Acting on the Attraction
by shulesaddict77
Summary: Drawing a line had been the best choice. But what if the attraction was getting too unbearable to not cross it?
1. Chapter 1

**I needed a show to balance out the drama and grossness of 'The Walking Dead' so I stumbled over this show and I fell instantly in love with Nick Miller. I'm a sucker for men with scruff, so you can all imagine that I didn't stand a chance. I actually found Jess annoying at the beginning but she grew on me and I love the chemistry between Zooey and Jake. I know it might sound weird but I love Jess and Nick's shouting matches. They always make me grin from ear to ear. **

**I actually don't have time to indulge in another ship but my muse insisted after I started to read the first fanfiction for this ship (**_Slow Burn_ **by **_AMiserableLove_**; by the way I'll write a review as soon as I'm finished with this one-shot) and I got inspired and just needed to at least write a one-shot to satisfy my muse. **

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**Chapter 1**

"That will never happen?" Nick said determined, shaking his head vehemently.

"Why not?" Jess asked, turning around in her chair to look at him.

They were on the roof, laying lazily in their chairs. Jess had a bottle of pink wine standing beside her while Nick was drinking his way through a six-pack. The night was a little chilly. It was already mid-September and as soon as the sun went down you could feel and smell the fall coming. But somehow they both ended up on the roof enjoying each other's company until Jess decided to try to convince him to have a blind-date.

His eyes darted towards her and he couldn't help the smirk erupting on his face as he saw her lying in her chair with closed eyes, the glass of wine propped up on her stomach, both her hands wrapped around it. Somehow he wanted to shake her out of her apparent happy bubble. She wanted to set him up. It was just fair to rattle her a little.

"Let me ask you something." Nick said quietly. "Why are you so hell-bent on hooking me up with Lisa?"

"I think you would make a great couple." Jess replied, opening her eyes slowly.

"So you are suggesting I should go out with her because you want me to be happy?"

"Yeah, exactly."

Nick took a swig of his beer and looked at her thoughtfully. "Just out of curiosity. What makes you think she would make me happy?"

Looking into his dark eyes Jess struggled to find a reason why she wanted him to go out with her colleague Lisa. She had actually thought it was a good idea until she just looked him in the eyes and felt the butterflies coming up in her stomach. Damn the attraction she felt for him.

He wasn't the best looking guy in the world but something about him was just … she actually didn't know what it was that made him attractive to her. He was just Nick. Nick Miller, her roommate, her friend. Having feelings for him was just a bad idea. It would ruin a wonderful friendship. He knew it. She knew it.

So she shouldn't have a problem with giving him a nudge to meet another woman. But the thought of him having sex with Lisa turned her stomach into knots. She didn't want him to have sex with anyone else. But she couldn't have sex with him either so it would be probably better to let him go. After all she really wanted him to be happy.

Nick waited patiently for her to answer his question. He would give almost anything to know what was going on in her head. She was biting her lip, her knuckles went white as she tightened her fingers around the glass and he contemplated if he should just make a joke to ease the tension that was crackling in the air. Maybe he should just drop it and go downstairs.

Something about this night made him almost forget that they were people who tried to be friends. All he could think about when he looked over at her was that he was definitely having one of _these _moments and he should better get the hell out of here before something happened they both would regret. They agreed to keep it simple but it got harder and harder from day to day.

He already wanted to stand up as Jess' voice suddenly cut through the silence. "I just know you two would be perfect for each other."

Something in her voice made him take a closer look and he saw something flicker over her eyes. Something he wished for and feared at the same time and before he could think it through words tumbled out of his mouth, words which would have been better left unsaid.

"Ever thought of the possibility that you and I are perfect for each other, Jess?"

He could hear her sharp intake of breath, could see her eyes widening in slight shock, the surprise written all over her face and it took her a few seconds before she could reply with a slightly husky voice. "Is this one of those 'friends who are sometimes attracted to each other' moments?"

"Do you want it to be one of those moments?" Nick asked, surprising himself.

When Jess furrowed her brows Nick stood up and walked over to her, putting both of his hands on the armrests of her chair, leaning down until he was literally caging her in and he could see a flutter of uncertainty crossing her eyes. He was definitely invading her personal space and he was well aware that he'd just stepped over the line they had both agreed on drawing.

"Nick, what are you doing?" Jess breathed, looking up into his face. Her heart was beating wildly against her rib cage, his closeness making her feel weak. Suddenly she caught a whiff of his cologne and almost cursed out loud. How should she be able to resist him when he didn't only look extremely appealing but also smelt like she imagined heaven would smell like? It wasn't fair. He was pushing her buttons and judging by the mischievous gleam in his eyes he damn well knew that he was pushing them.

Nick lifted one hand and reached for the glass, taking it out of her hands, brushing tentatively over her fingers and a shiver ran down her spine as he came dangerously close to her as he bent over to put the glass on the ground before he put his hand back on the armrest.

"Acting on the attraction." Nick said, shifting forward on his hands and Jess raised her hands, putting them on his chest, pushing him away as far as he let her what wasn't nearly far enough to calm her racing heart down.

"How much beer did you have?"

"Not enough to not know what I'm doing." Nick replied.

He couldn't get closer to her without pushing her hands away but he could still step closer since she couldn't hold his upper and lower body away from her at the same time. So he completely took her by surprise as he nudged her legs apart and stepped between them, spreading her legs and her eyes widened as she looked down his body, her gaze stopping at the obvious bulge under his pants, her mouth going dry in a second while another part of her body was doing quite the opposite.

"And why are you doing what you are doing?" Jess pressed out past the lump that had suddenly appeared in her throat.

"You're driving me nuts." Nick told her, his voice so rich with emotions that her eyes snapped up to his face.

"I'm driving you ... what?" Jess asked surprised, apparently in over her head because she had no clue how to deal with this kind of situation. Like she told him. She always had had a box for friends and a box for boyfriends. She never had a friend who made her heart beat faster.

"You know, the problem is that the 'friends who are sometimes attracted to each other' moments are starting to outweigh the 'friends who are only friends' moments." Nick said quietly, watching her intently.

"So you are saying you feel more attracted to me than before?"

"I think you've weakened me bit by bit." Nick tried to explain.

"Excuse me?" Jess asked confused.

"You just crept up on me. One smile here, one hair flip there."

"You're insane." Jess chuckled, trying to push him away from her so that she could stand up and escape this insane situation. But it felt like she was trying to move a wall because he wasn't even moving an inch and she felt the sudden urge to smack the smirk of his face. How could he dare?

But his next comment made her hands freeze as his challenging words were waking up her competitive side. "Are you gonna chicken out?"

"Chicken out of what?" Jess asked.

"Acting on the attraction." Nick clarified.

"What exactly did the 'acting on the attraction' imply?" Jess was actually quite proud of herself that her voice sounded so cool and relaxed while her insides were trembling like hell. But at least she managed to not let him see how much he affected her.

"If you would stop pushing me away I can show you." Nick cocked an eyebrow, giving her a slow, lazy grin that shot sparks through her whole body.

"I'm not sure I want to stop pushing you away."

"Chicken!"

"I'm not a chicken!"

"Yes, you are! Chicken! Chicken! Chicken!" Nick teased, his mouth curving up into a lopsided grin as he saw her eyes narrow dangerously but she surprised him as her hands suddenly curled around the collar of his hoodie, yanking him forward so that he almost lost his balance before her lips crushed on his.

He didn't even know if he deliberately riled her up to coax a reaction out of her or if he just couldn't help himself, but he definitely wasn't prepared for the heat behind her kiss. No soft brushing of lips, no teasing touch of tongues. It was all hot and passionate. Her tongue demanded entrance and he groaned deep in his throat as his hands shot up to her face, tilting her head to give him better access to her mouth as he met her tongue with his, sudden greediness overwhelming him as he just wanted to take more and more and more. Not caring the least that they might make a big mistake by crossing the line.

His scruff scraped over her skin, setting it already on fire as his mouth devoured hers and Jess slid her hands down his torso, pulling the zipper down, slipping her hands under his shirt, skimming them over his stomach and she felt him shiver under her hands, his mouth becoming even more demanding as he pressed her into the chair.

She was driving him crazy. He'd only felt a whiff of cold air against his skin as she lowered the zipper of his hoodie. But the moment her fingers touched his stomach, jolts of electricity shot through his body straight to his groin and when her fingers trailed along the waistband of his jeans, he sucked in a breath, stealing the air from her, feeling her mouth curve into a smile under his.

He tore his mouth from hers for a second, rasping against her lips. "Maybe you're not a chicken."

Without waiting for an answer he delved back into the kiss, letting his hands following the line of her neck, pushing her jacket aside so that his fingers could trace the hem of her shirt. Jess shuddered as he started to kiss a trail down her throat, one of his hands slipping under her shirt and she held her breath, her whole body was trembling in anticipation of his next move and her hand slipped beneath the waistband of his jeans, her fingers almost touching him.

Nick thought he would explode any second. Her skin felt so smooth under his lips, her scent enveloped him and her fingers were only inches away from him. His hand wandered under her shirt because he desperately needed to touch her, needed to feel her soft flesh under his hands.

He leaned back, stopping for a second, locking eyes with her, waiting for something, though he had no idea for what he was searching. But one look into her hooded eyes, at her swollen lips and he found the answer he was looking for. She wanted him to continue and he bent down, wanting to fuse his lips to hers again. He wanted her to wrap her hand around him, wanted desperately to feel her, be in her.

Suddenly they heard footsteps on the stairs and they froze instantly, their lips still connected, their eyes wide open and seconds before the door swung open, Nick grabbed her hand and yanked it out of his pants, crouching down beside her so that the chair was hiding his obvious arousal from whoever might burst through the door any second.

Jess was staring at him wide-eyed, gulping hard, trying to wrap her head around what just happened.

She kissed Nick. Nick kissed her. They kissed each other.

Her eyes flashed down to his lips and back to his eyes, looking like a deer caught in the headlights and Nick couldn't resist trailing a finger over her lips, giving her a crooked smile before the door opened and Schmidt rushed through it.

Her eyes were still on him and he could see the question in them, could almost hear her voice in his head, asking him 'What the hell was that?' and his grin broadened before he turned his attention to Schmidt, glad that their roommate seemed to be extremely excited about something so that he didn't spare them more than a curt look.

"Guys! Guess what?" Schmidt stopped shortly in front of them, putting his hands on his hips and puffing his chest out, not realizing that both Jess and Nick didn't really pay attention to him. "I'm a vagenius!"

"A what?" Nick's head shot up and he looked at Schmidt incredulously.

"A vagenius. That's reason to celebrate. I'm cooking and you, my friend, need to do your job. I invited some friends."

"My job?" Nick asked confused, his brain still not functioning properly since he still could taste Jess on his lips.

"Bartending, of course. I need you to tend the bar." Schmidt rolled his eyes at him and without another comment he turned around and stalked back towards the stairs.

Nick looked stunned after him, shaking his head inwardly over the obvious craziness of his life. Just a few moments ago he almost ripped the clothes of Jess' body just to get interrupted by his obviously completely insane friend.

Suddenly realizing that he was still crouched down beside Jess' chair he stood up, righting his clothes, rubbing his hand over his face, not sure what he should say to her, what he could say to her. But before he could even come up with something Jess addressed him.

"Aehmm." Jess cleared her throat and Nick looked down at her questioningly. "Aren't you ..." Her gaze dropped down to his mid-section and she shifted uncomfortable in her chair, not able to look him in the eyes. "Shouldn't you ..."

"What, Jess?" Nick asked, glad that she had been the first to speak but not sure what she was getting at.

"You sure you want to go down like this." Jess blurted out, a deep blush rising up in her cheeks.

"Like what?"

"Aehmm, shouldn't you ..."

"Spit it out, Jess."

"Shouldn't you wait a little before you go down? Everyone will know what happened since you and I were the only ones on ..." Jess trailed off, feeling more and more uncomfortable from second to second.

"Ohh!" Nick said, suddenly realizing what she was talking about. "I don't think anyone will notice. Besides, the moment I'll step into the apartment I need to go into the bathroom anyway."

Jess looked up at him quizzically and Nick chuckled slightly before he told her why he needed to go to the bathroom. "I need a cold shower after this."

"Ohh!" Jess' cheeks turned red again and she stuttered slightly embarrassed. "Of course. Sure. Cold shower. Right."

Nick looked down at her amused before he turned around and walked towards the door. They didn't have time to talk about what just happened. Schmidt could appear again any second. But when he reached the door, he swirled around to her, hardly able to hold back a satisfied smile when he saw that she was still watching him, giving her a loaded promise. "This is far from over."

Jess stared aimlessly at the door for a few minutes before she lifted her hand and trailed her fingers over her heated skin and swollen lips, wondering how it had happened that they'd crossed the line in warp speed. The kiss had left her dazzled and a smile formed behind her fingers as she remembered the feel of his skin under her hands, the roughness of his scruff against her face and a laughter pearled over her lips, her eyes shining with excitement as she leaned back and looked up at the star-strewn sky, murmuring quietly. "You're probably right."

**I love to hear from my readers. So please leave me a review and tell me what you think.**

**Okay, aehmm, wow! I didn't expect such a response. I just came up with the idea yesterday. Thank you!**

**Since a few reviewers already asked if I intend to continue this story. Well, ... my muse definitely wants to continue it. But I'm currently swamped with work and my other WIP's. So I can't promise you anything. But when I continue this story it's definitely going to be a M-story. Yes, I'm one of those writers. :-) My muse is already busy pestering me with parts for the next chapter but it will probably take me a while to find the time to write it. It probably has to wait until the Christmas Holidays. I'll try my best!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I apologize in advance for this long author's note (I promise they are not always gonna be that long) but I need to say some things to give you an idea of my writing style so that no one is surprised about where I'm gonna take this story.**

**First off, I am an angst fan as long as I get my happy-end. You will hardly see me writing an overall happy, fluffy fic. It's just not my style. You might get some happy one-shots but when I write a multi-chapter fic there will always be at least some angst. **

**Second, there is no way that I can keep this story T-rated. So if anyone of you doesn't like smut ... I'm sorry. But ignoring the elephant in the room for months, denying each other to act on the sexual tension that is clearly there ... believe me such things tend to explode if you finally give in, hence the change to a M-rating.**

**Third, my Jess is definitely going to be a little bit more serious than on the show. Of course she will be her bubbly self in parts of the story but I intend to delve a little into her inner thoughts and I don't think she can be happy all the time, considering the direction I want to take this story. So if she might seem to be a little OOC to some of you it's just because stepping over the line with Nick is a serious matter since their friendship is very important to both of them and adding the sexual component to their relationship will definitely change the dynamics, though they will not change who they are (at least not in my stories) only because they are sleeping together. **

**Fourth, thank you all so much for your reviews and favoriting and alerting. It's because of you that you get a new chapter sooner than I intended to write it and of course because Nick and Jess didn't stop pestering me. :-)**

**So, here you go! The aftermath of the kiss on the rooftop! I hope you enjoy! Oh, and if you don't know the song '**_I'm so exited_**' by '**_The Pointer Sisters_**' … you should check it out before you read the chapter. :-) (go to youtube dot com and copy/paste the following address **/watch?v=sS6eUIpwwds**) I love this live version. It actually makes me want to dance my feet off and sing along at the top of my lungs.**

**Disclaimer: I always forget to mention it! But of course I don't own New Girl or Nick or Jess. If I would, I would have at least had them kiss already so that they would have had more to remember than seeing each other naked. ;-)**

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**Chapter 2**

The smile on his face faded away with each step he took and shortly before he reached their floor he slumped against the wall and hit the back of his head repeatedly against the wall. Pressing his hands against his eyes, he huffed out a sarcastic laugh as he remembered his own words, the ones he'd spoken to her about two months ago. He'd been the one who told her she shouldn't make a big deal of it and what had he done? What just happened on the rooftop was definitely his fault. He'd pushed her. He'd pushed her until she folded.

What the heck had he been thinking? Well, apparently he hadn't been thinking at all because if he had he would have never gotten that close to her. He'd known that leaning into her chair was like holding a match over a can of spirit. One move and the match would drop and the spirit would catch fire, burning both of them in the process. Of course Jess had been the one who pulled him in so technically the spirit miraculously sloshed out of the can to reach the match.

Groaning out frustrated, he gritted his teeth. Now he already thought like her. Having crazy thoughts about matches and spirit definitely didn't help with the pressing issue in his pants. He needed to get in the shower. Suddenly unwelcome images of Jess being in the shower with him popped into his brain and Nick slapped his hand against the wall.

"Fuck!"

How was he supposed to get her out of his head? Sleeping with her was a bad idea. His head was telling him that it was a really, really bad idea. But the rest of his body was screaming at him to take what he wanted the most and he balled his hands into fists, pressing his eyes shut, taking some deep breaths.

He needed to put a lid on the desire that cursed through his body because he was currently acting like a horny teenager. Everything inside of him pushed him to just go back to the roof and take her right there. But he was too old to be driven by his hormones. He needed to think before he acted, he needed to think about the consequences and the only possible consequence was that he would hurt her. One way or the other.

He always screwed up. It was inevitable. She deserved better. He didn't want to be the reason that she would watch Dirty Dancing seven times a day again when he would eventually break her heart. He was Nick Miller. He sucked at relationships and pretty much everything else in his life.

Was crossing the line really worth risking their friendship? Because looking at his track record the likelihood of him screwing it up was pretty high and he didn't want to lose her. He couldn't imagine a life without her.

Pushing himself away from the wall, he jerked the door to their floor open, glad that no one was in the living room when he entered the apartment. He needed to get in the shower. He couldn't make the right decision if he was constantly getting distracted by the throbbing in his pants. There was no point in having an argument in his head when his body was highly aroused.

He rushed into his room and tore the clothes off his body, wrapping a towel around his waist before he hurried over the floor into the bathroom. Ten minutes under the cold shower and he was finally able to think clearly again. Turning the water to a more comfortable temperature he lifted his face into the spray of water and tried to shut out every thought of Jess. He needed a few minutes alone with himself.

But she wouldn't leave him. Memories of the last year flashed across his closed eyelids until suddenly the memory of her standing completely naked in front of him sprang into his brain and he groaned, searching blindly with his hand for the handle behind his back, turning it to ice cold again until his body started shivering and his lips turned blue.

After another five minutes he turned the shower off without turning it to hot again, not trusting his body to not assault him with erotic images of Jess again when it'd relax under the warm water. He'd made his decision. Jess was better off with him as only her friend. Becoming more would just ruin their friendship. Wrapping the towel around his waist again he walked slowly into his room, wondering if repeating it in his head over and over again would make it any easier to keep his hands off her.

~N&J~

When Jess entered the apartment she could hear the shower running and knowing why he was standing in the shower right now put a goofy grin on her face. The grin stayed on her face even after she'd closed the door of her room behind her. But suddenly the significance of what just happened on the roof crashed down on her and her eyes widened in slight shock. Why now?

They had been dancing around the whole attraction issue for months now but never acted on it. They had been both well aware of the sexual tension that flashed up between them from time to time and once in a while they'd pushed at the boundaries a little bit. But it had been more like a game. She'd always enjoyed driving him up a wall, secretly waiting for him to snap and when he did she always felt the giddiness bubbling up in her. She loved making him all grumpy and there were days were she counted the times she was able to make him do his turtle face.

But what had changed? And why the hell did she kiss him? They crossed the line and now they could never go back to being only friends. Even if they agreed on calling it a slip she would never be able to forget how kissing him made her feel. She broke up with Russell because she couldn't be in a relationship without passion. She could say with absolute certainty that kissing Nick had definitely been passionate. Kissing him had just felt … right.

But sleeping with him? Wouldn't that be weird? Wouldn't that be like sleeping with your own brother? But the truth was she'd never looked at him as if he was her brother. She'd felt attracted to him right from the beginning and now she would finally find out how it would be like to be with him, how his naked body would feel against hers.

Suddenly a flash of dizziness rushed through her body and she slumped down on the bed, pressing her suddenly clam hands against her thighs, trying to slow down her racing heart.

"Why are you freaking out, Jessica Day?" She scolded herself. "It's only Nick."

She had seen him naked before so she knew what she was getting into and even though she'd only stared at him for a few seconds she had seen _everything_. Of course not in an erect state but still. But suddenly she remembered the bulge she'd seen under his pants on the rooftop and gulped hard. Okay, it had definitely looked impressive.

"Okay, Jess. Deep breaths." Jess said, biting her lip as she heard the slightly hysterical tone of her own voice. "No need to freak out. No need at all!"

She was acting like she was a virgin. Not that she had much experience with different men since she'd spent six years with Spencer but she _had _experience. Nick wouldn't be her first, nor her second, not even her third. Counting the men in her head she calmed down a little. After all he would be her seventh man already.

But they were talking about Nick. Her roommate, her friend. Not some man she'd just met. Not some random guy she'd picked up in a bar because she'd felt twirly. No, no random guy at all but NICK MILLER.

Her hard achieved calmness went out of the window in a heartbeat as she realized that they would really do it. They would do it. They would do the dance between the sheets, jump into the sack with each other, doing the deed, crossing the line. Her vision began to swim and she realized that she was only a hairbreadth away from passing out, her breath coming out in short, sharp gasps and she looked around frantically searching for something she could breathe into.

Her gaze fell on her nightstand and the bag with a Bear claw from her favorite bakery and she grabbed it and shook the pastry out of the bag, her vision already tunneling in as she started to hyperventilate and she slumped to the floor, pressing the bag over her mouth and nose and forced herself to relax her back against the bed, breathing into the bag until her breaths came out less erratic and the black spots at the edges of her eyes disappeared.

Slowly she lowered the bag with slightly shaking hands, not sure if she'd been able to avoid the panic attack or if it would start again. But she willed herself to breathe normal and leaning her head on her knees she closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around her legs as she tried to analyze why she was freaking out like that about something so natural as sex.

The answer was actually quite simple. Because having sex with Nick wouldn't be just sex. Sex with Nick wouldn't be meaningless. It couldn't be meaningless. But then her thoughts went back to the kiss on the rooftop and a shiver ran through her body. It _was_ actually simple. She wanted him and she would never forgive herself if she would push him away.

If she was honest she had thought about it quite a lot since she walked in on him dancing naked in front of the mirror. He had definitely been in almost every fantasy of her when she had taken matter into her own hands and released some pressure. She would never admit it to anyone else but especially after their shouting matches where the wish to throttle him or jump him was almost unbearable she couldn't find sleep before she didn't help herself to an orgasm, his picture clear in her head while her hands roamed over her body.

But it had gotten worse over the last weeks. He'd invaded her dreams and not those 'weird' dreams where you woke up completely disoriented and just thought 'what the heck was that?' but the kind of dreams where she jerked out of sleep her whole body trembling and quivering and his hoarse voice still ringing in her ears. The kind of dreams that left her so hot that she had contemplated not only once if she should just go across the hall and crawl into bed with him.

And now she was only hours away from having the real deal. Not some picture in her head but actually the real Nick. The living, breathing Nick. Kissing her, touching her, entering her. They were long past the question if this was a good or bad idea. She couldn't go on like this. Pretending that they were just friends when his dark eyes elicited fires under her skin every time he looked at her. When his voice sent shiver down her spine every time he said her name. Especially not after the kiss they'd shared on the roof. She wanted more. She wanted everything. She _wanted _to cross the line.

Taking in a deep breath, she stood up and walked slowly towards the mirror, staring at her pale face.

"You can do it. Yeah, you can do it." Jess jumped up and down and shook her arms before she threw them in the air, wiggling her whole body. "You can do it, Jess."

Dropping on her knees she opened her record cabinet, trailing her fingers over the titles, murmuring them out loud, stopping at a few before she finally picked one.

"Perfect. Absolutely perfect."

Shaking it out of its cover, she placed it carefully on the player and put the needle to the start, waiting for the music to fill the room. When the first beats sounded through the speaker her mouth twitched up into a big grin. Straightening herself, she tapped one foot on the ground, raising her hands and threading it through her hair, bundling it up on top, waiting for the lyrics to start before she let her hair fall, singing along at the top of her lungs while she danced through the whole room.

"Tonight's the night we're gonna make it happen, tonight we'll put all other things aside." Jess sang, letting her hips swing to the rhythm and her grin almost split up her face with the next words. "Give in this time and show me some affection, we're going for those pleasures in the night."

She knew with almost one hundred percent certainty that making love with Nick would give her all kinds of pleasures and lack of passion would definitely be not a problem.

"I want to love you, feel you, wrap myself around you ..." Jess flopped down on the bed, spreading her arms out, giving her voice a sultry tone as she sang along with the lyrics. "I want to squeeze you, please you, I just can't get enough and if you move real slow, I'll let it go."

When the chorus started Jess jumped down from the bed, grabbing her hairbrush to use it as a microphone as she joined in. "I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it, I'm about to lose control and I think I like it."

Forgotten was her panic attack from just a few minutes ago as she danced to her closet, running her hands along her clothes while she was still singing along. "I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it. And I know, I know, I know, I know, I want you."

Her hands stilled on the dress in the furthest corner of her closet and she pulled it out, holding it in front of her. It was a dress Cece made her buy a few months ago. She'd never worn it, thinking that it was just too revealing but today was just the day to wear it for the first time. She'd never wanted to wear it before. She'd never felt the need to wear it because secretly she'd agreed with Cece that it was just the kind of dress to drive men crazy and she never felt comfortable enough to wear it. But tonight there was one man she wasn't opposed to drive crazy and the dress was just what she needed to help her with her task.

~N&J~

Nick was standing in front of the mirror, shirtless, trying to decide which shirt he should put on. Even though he'd decided to explain to Jess how bad of an idea sleeping together would be, he still wanted to look good. Which didn't make any sense at all. Shouldn't he make it easier for both of them by putting on the ugliest and oldest shirt he could find? But still his fingers went to the plain black shirt he knew Jess liked. She'd once told him it made his eyes even darker and made him look somehow dangerous and he'd liked the appreciative glint in her eyes as she'd seen him wear it for the first time.

He just shrugged into the shirt when he heard music coming from Jess' room and he froze, his hands still holding the labels of his shirt as he recognized the song almost immediately.

"Are you freaking kidding me?" Nick groaned before he heard Jess' voice singing along with the song and his fists tightened around the fabric.

_Tonight's the night we're gonna make it happen,  
tonight we'll put all other things aside_

His hands started to tremble and he growled deep in his throat when he heard the next words.

_I want to love you, feel you, wrap myself around you_

"For God's sake." Nick muttered, stepping forward, his hand already on the door knob, ready to jerk it open to rush over to her room and just throw her on the bed and take her. Hard and fast.

_I want to squeeze you, please you,  
I just can't get enough,  
and if you move real slow,  
I'll let it go_

"Fuck!" Nick pressed his trembling hands against the door, sweat broke out on his forehead as he fought to not lose the last remnants of his control.

It shouldn't happen like this. He would not let it happen like this. He wouldn't take her as if he was a wild animal and he knew if he would go to her right now, he wouldn't be able to hold himself back. The blood was rushing in his ears, his knees gave out under him and he dropped to the ground, leaning against the door. He wanted to cover his ears, wanted to shut out her voice but he couldn't move his hands so he curled them into fists on his thighs to stop them from trembling.

_I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it  
I'm about to lose control and I think I like it  
I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it  
And I know, I know, I know, I know  
I know, I want you, want you_

"Oh God, I want you too." Nick murmured, wondering when he would be able to leave his room after she'd just managed to make him rock hard by only singing a song and he didn't even see her dancing. He only heard her damn voice.

_Do what you do to me, you've got me burning up_

"How am I supposed to stay away from you?" Nick gritted out through clenched teeth, one hand reaching up to tug at his fly, contemplating for a second if he should just release the tension since her voice alone almost made him come anyway.

But he couldn't do it. He didn't only want to fantasize about her any longer. He didn't want to get off by his own hand while he was pretending it was her hand around him. He wanted the real thing. He wanted the real Jess. He wanted to fill her, wanted to make her scream, wanted to see her blue eyes turn dark when he pushed her towards the edge, wanted to see her come undone under him.

"God, Jess." Nick groaned. "God help us both. But I don't think I can do the smart thing. I want you too much. I need you."

He would make good on his promise. The promise he'd given her on the rooftop. This was far from over. It hadn't even begun yet.

~N&J~

Jess was just finishing up her make-up after she'd managed to take a quick shower without bumping into Nick and before the first guests arrived as someone knocked at her door and a second later Cece called through the door. "Jess, come on! The party is already in full force. What is taking you so long?" And without waiting for an answer, Cece stepped into her room, stopping dead in her tracks as she got the first glance of Jess.

"Whow, the slutty dress?" Cece asked, narrowing her eyes knowingly. "Who is the guy?"

"I don't know what you are talking about." Jess said, pressing her lips together to make sure that the lipstick was spread across them evenly before she turned around to Cece.

"And the slutty lipstick?" Cece's mouth twitched up into a grin. "He must be one hell of a guy."

"It's just lipstick, Cece." Jess replied slightly reluctant because she had actually applied this specific lipstick because she hoped it would drive a certain person crazy.

"Jess!"

"Why does it always have to be about a guy? You are always telling me that I'm not dressing up for a man but for myself. So that's what I'm doing. Dressing up for myself."

"If you say so." Cece said unconvinced. "So let's go. Let's rock this party!"

The moment they stepped into the living room Jess' eyes went searchingly over the room. It had been two hours since they'd kissed and she was anxious to see him again though she couldn't suppress the slight nervousness that was settling into the pit of her stomach. She didn't even realize that Cece was watching her, clearly not buying her nonchalant attitude.

When she finally found him in the crowd, her heart skipped a beat and she had a second to admire how handsome he looked in his black shirt before he lifted his gaze from the person he was currently talking to and his eyes locked with hers over the room full of people.

Suddenly it was as if they were alone in the room, as if no one else existed. His dark eyes trailed over her and her breath caught in her throat as she saw how his gaze heated up as he took her in. When his eyes returned to hers a shiver ran down her spine as his mouth curled up into a lopsided grin, his eyes full of silent promises and her lips quivered slightly as she returned his smile.

But somehow wearing the dress made her braver than she had ever been before and she put a hand provocatively on her hip, licking her lips, feeling triumph rise up in her chest as his eyes narrowed slightly before his grin broadened and he gave her a curt nod as if he accepted a challenge she hadn't been aware of giving. But the party had just started and putting on the dress made her kind of adventurous. The night had just begun and she was willing to play.

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**I swear I intended to give you a lot more as I started to write this chapter but then it got completely out of hand. I know it's not M yet, but we are getting there. Eventually! :-)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for the reviews! **

**We are dipping our toes into M-water now. But it's just some serious flirting and a little dirty talking. I hope you enjoy! :-)**

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**Chapter 3**

She was taking her sweet time to come out of her room and the longer she stayed in there the more he questioned his decision again. Maybe he would be able to keep his hands off her after all. It shouldn't be that hard. He'd managed to do so for months. Why should it be any different now? One kiss shouldn't change that.

He'd almost convinced himself that it would be a piece of cake to stay away from her when he could swear that he felt the air shifting and he looked over the shoulder of the person he was currently talking to and spotted Jess at the other end of the room. His mind went blank for a few seconds as he trailed his gaze down her body, feeling flames of desire licking through his body as he drank in every curve of her.

She was wearing a deep blue dress that was shimmering in the light. It looked as if it was painted on her body and ended mid-thigh, revealing her long legs. When he met her eyes again he realized that the color of her dress made her eyes even more breathtaking or maybe it was the bright red lipstick that almost begged him to go over there and kiss it off her lips and he couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips.

A part of him hoped she had put on the dress thinking about how it would affect him and when she put a hand on her hip, licking her lips and threw him a smile, he nodded his head without really noticing it. He'd recognized the challenge and the expression on Jess' face was way too smug for his liking. He was determined to change that.

~N&J~

"Alright then." Cece said with a big smile on her face as she followed Jess' gaze and saw Nick's gaze travel over Jess' body, clearly liking what he was seeing. "Figures!"

Jess didn't even react to Cece's comment, suddenly feeling the urge to get her fingers on a big glass of pink wine. She wasn't sure if she was really ready to engage in a flirting game with Nick.

"I'll just get me some pink wine." Jess muttered before she hurried towards the bar, hoping that Nick would at least give her the time to drink up some courage.

As Schmidt walked by Cece grabbed him and pulled him close, standing up on her tiptoes to speak directly into his ear so that she could be heard over the music. "Schmidt, do you have any idea what's going on between Jess and Nick?"

"Not exactly." Schmidt replied. "But I interrupted something when I found them on the roof earlier today."

"What do you think happened?" Cece asked.

"Judging by the look on their faces and the fact that Nick was hiding behind Jess's chair they were probably doing the tongue-tango."

"They kissed?" Cece said excitedly.

"I didn't actually see them kissing but I'm pretty sure they did." Schmidt replied, being calmer than Cece would have expected him to be when he found out that Nick and Jess were more than roommates. But before she could ask him more about the incident on the rooftop he said. "On another note your friend told me that I'm a vagenius. You sure, you don't want to have a revival tour."

"Where is the jar, Schmidt?" Cece replied exasperatedly, rolling her eyes, hiding a smirk.

"Why?" Schmidt said. "I didn't call myself that. Your lesbian friend gave me that title."

"Jar, Schmidt!" Cece said firmly as she found the jar at his usual place and hold it up so that Schmidt could put a ten dollar bill in it.

"Why am I always putting money in the jar for things I didn't do?" Schmidt murmured disgruntled, earning another eye roll from Cece before she walked away.

~N&J~

Jess was slowly losing her nerves. It had been one hour since she joined the party and Nick still hadn't talked to her. Another hour and she would be a quivering mess. She didn't even know that looks alone could make you that aroused. He might not have talked to her but his eyes followed her everywhere.

When she talked with one of Winston's friends and turned around to show him where the bar was, Nick's eyes bored into hers, taking her breath away. When she was coming back from a bathroom break and walked into the living room the first eyes she met when she looked around were his. Every time she looked up his damn eyes were on her, his mouth always twitching up into a smile the moment her eyes locked on his.

She was currently standing against the wall beside the door of her room. She needed a break from his constant stare. But only a minute later she stepped towards the corner looking around to search for him again. But he wasn't standing at the bar anymore and she tried to sweep her eyes unsuspiciously over the crowd. But she still couldn't find him.

She almost bit her tongue as a hand slipped along her waist and his voice almost made her jump out of her skin. "Searching for something?"

"How do you do that?" Jess snapped, swirling around to face him, trying to squash down the desire that shot through her body as his hand came dangerously close to the underside of her breast.

"I'm not doing anything." Nick replied, keeping his hand where it was, well aware that he only needed to move his fingers slightly to touch her more intimately. "Just enjoying the party."

"Yeah, right." Jess huffed out sarcastically, grabbing his hand to shove it away.

"Am I rattling you?" Nick asked amused, not even knowing where the need to tease her came from. He wasn't very good at the whole flirting game but with Jess it seemed as if everything just felt naturally into its place.

"Nooo." Jess replied, trying to sound nonchalant but failing miserably.

"You are still a bad liar." Nick smirked.

"It's just a little disconcerting."

"What is disconcerting?"

"Every time I look up you are already looking at me." Jess admitted reluctantly, letting her gaze drop to his chest.

"Well, I just can't keep my eyes off you." Nick replied, putting a finger under her chin to lift it up gently. "By the way, you look breathtakingly beautiful."

"Stop it, Nick." Jess whispered, angry that her voice was shaking slightly as his gaze trailed down her body again, making her feel as if she would burst into flames any second.

"Stop what?"

"Undressing me with your eyes." Jess hissed, pushing him away to put some space between them. Space she needed desperately to breathe.

"Why?" Nick asked, raising his hand to brush a strand of hair behind her ear. "You don't like it?"

"We are in a room full of people." Jess said, swatting his hand away.

"So?"

"Just stop looking at me like that."

"It's actually your fault." Nick said calmly.

"My fault?" Jess asked, looking up at him shocked. How should this be her fault? He was the one who was making it almost impossible to not drag him into her room and have her way with him.

"It's your fault that I know exactly how you look like under this dress." He leaned forward until his lips brushed her ear before he added. "Remember, I saw _everything _and I'm looking forward to see it again."

Jess closed her eyes for a second, not willing to give up that easily. He wouldn't get away with teasing her. She could give him a hard time, too. So she shifted slightly to bring her body closer to his before she whispered into his ear. "Why do you think you are gonna see me without my dress tonight?"

She could feel him smile against her cheek before he replied, his voice becoming dangerously low. "Because you want me as much as I want you and believe me I tried to talk myself out of it but it didn't work." He leaned back, raising his hand to trail a finger over her ribs before he lifted his eyes to hers. "And don't tell me you didn't put that dress on just to drive me crazy, not to mention the 'fuck me' lipstick."

"This is not a 'fuck me' lipstick!" Jess hissed, faking outrage because she knew that the thought had actually crossed her mind earlier when she'd put it on.

"For your information it's working." Nick stated quietly. "Since the moment you stepped into the room all I can think about is getting that damn dress off you. So if you wanted to drive me nuts, you succeeded."

"I did?" Jess asked innocently, a smug smile appearing on her face.

"Don't look so smug." Nick shot back, not able to hide his own smile. "I'm just a man."

"Nick! Hey, man." Schmidt's voice made them step away from each other but Nick couldn't help himself to trail his hand over her waist and hip, biting his cheek to stop smiling like crazy as he felt her shiver before he forced himself to look at Schmidt.

"What's up?"

"How about you get back behind the bar? People are thirsty. I don't pay you for chatting with Jess."

"You aren't paying me _anything_." Nick rolled his eyes at his roommate.

"So not the point." Schmidt replied, grabbing Nick's arm to drag him with him towards the bar.

"See ya." Nick managed to throw over his shoulder.

"See ya." Jess said, wondering how long they would be able to keep this up without jumping each other in front of everyone.

~N&J~

"What's going on, Jess?" Cece stepped beside her, startling her out of her reverie. Well, it wasn't a reverie more of a 'devouring Nick with her eyes and thinking about all the things she could do to him behind closed doors' thing.

"What do you mean?" Jess asked, trying to hide the blush that had crept into her cheeks by raising her glass and taking a big gulp.

"I swear if the room would be filled with gas it would have caught fire already." Cece replied, enjoying the obvious embarrassment of her best friend.

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"I'm talking about the sparks. What happened since the last time I saw you two together?"

"Us two?" Jess looked at her friend, trying to fake ignorance.

"The tension was always there, just at the edge, ready to raise its head. But this ... I've never seen it escalate like this. You can cut it with a knife."

"What tension?"

"Jess, you know who you are talking to, right? I was the one who told you that he likes you. I've been waiting for this to happen for ages."

"For what to happen?"

"Okay, you obviously don't want to admit it so I'm gonna spell it out for you."

"I'm sure there is no way to stop you."

"Nick and you, ..."

"Are roommates." Jess interrupted her, still hoping that she could keep the whole thing between Nick and her a secret for a little bit but Cece's knowing look told her otherwise.

"Yes, you are roommates. Roommates who are going to have sex tonight." Cece said bluntly.

"We are not gonna ..."

"For God's sake, Jess. Cut the crap. I can see it. Everyone who is looking at you two a little closer can see it. I'm so glad you two stopped being such wusses and are just going for it."

"Cece?" Jess grabbed her friend's arm and dragged her into a quieter corner before she admitted. "I'm scared."

"Of what?" Cece asked quietly.

"Of ruining everything."

"Jess, I'm going to ask you one question. The ultimate question." Cece said. "Are you ready?"

Jess nodded slightly, kneading her hands while she waited for Cece to continue.

"Do you want him?"

"I don't think it's that easy, I ..."

Cece grabbed her shoulders, shaking her gently until Jess locked eyes with her before she repeated the question. "Do you want him?"

Jess stared at Cece for quite some time and Cece already thought that she would never get an answer as Jess exhaled a deep breath and whispered. "Yes."

"So stop worrying about everything that could go wrong and focus on what is most important."

"And what would that be?"

"You will never stop wondering how he is in bed, Jess. No one can give you any guarantees. No one can tell you that everything is going to turn out alright. But what is life without risks? Take the leap, Jess. You know you want to."

"More than you can imagine."

"So jump." Cece said firmly. "It's Nick, Jess. He is gonna catch you. He will not let you fall."

~N&J~

She'd just poured herself another glass of pink wine as she saw Nick approaching out of the corner of her eye.

"Don't drink too much, Miss Day."

"Why shouldn't I drink too much, Mr. Miller?"

"Because you have to attend a meeting later this night."

"A meeting? And with whom am I _meeting_?"

"With the man you were on the rooftop earlier."

"Ohh, you mean Schmidt." Jess said, enjoying the short flash of anger that crossed his eyes. "By the way you shouldn't drink too much either. We don't want you to have any problems with your _performance_. Not that you can't finish the _meeting _or worse."

Jess almost clapped her hand over her mouth as she finished the sentence. Where did all this boldness come from? Since when did she indulge in sexual innuendo and was good at it?

"What could be worse?" Nick asked after he got over the first surprise about the suggestive nature of her statement. This was getting pretty intense.

"Not even being able to start it." Jess said, still amazed how she was able to flirt like that.

"Oh, you don't have to worry." Nick sent her a cocky smile. "That's not gonna happen."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because I'm practically running around with a constant hard-on since I left you on the roof. No amount of alcohol is gonna change that."

His statement made her body tingle and she couldn't help to look down his body to see if he was telling the truth but the light was so dim that she couldn't say with absolute certainty if he was aroused or not. Realizing what she was doing, she jerked her gaze away from his mid-section and buried her nose in her glass.

"So, I heard you're excited." Nick said and when Jess looked up she could see the amusement in his eyes.

"Where did you get that idea?"

"I heard the song."

"Don't put too much meaning into a plain song, Nicholas." Jess replied calmly, waving one hand through the air. "It was just the first record I grabbed."

"That's actually a shame."

"Why?" Jess asked, his statement had definitely spiked her curiosity.

"I wouldn't mind if you would wrap yourself around me and squeeze me tight."

Jess' breath caught in her throat as she saw the hunger in his eyes and she was surprised by her own words that came out of her mouth. "Are you gonna move slow?"

"If you want me to." Nick replied, his voice coming out more husky than he intended to. "We can take it slow. I don't mind taking my time to explore every inch of you before I'll slide into you." He paused briefly, watching her intently, putting his hand on the small of her back to pull her closer before he leaned down to whisper into her ear. "But only if you beg."

"I'm not gonna beg." Jess replied indignantly.

"Ahhh, another challenge?" Nick cocked an eye brow, grinning down at her. "Be careful, Jessica. I might wanna prove you wrong."

"What makes you think you aren't gonna be the one begging, Nicholas?"

"Because I won't give you a chance to make me beg."

"What do you mean?"

"When I get started you won't be able to think straight."

"Cocky much?"

"This has nothing to do with cockiness. I've been wanting to put my hands on you for months. No need to rush it now." His eyes dropped to her lips, the red color almost screaming at him and he snapped his gaze back to her eyes, saying almost threateningly. "Unless you want it hard and fast. I can do that, too. Whatever you prefer."

"Hmm." Jess' heart was almost beating out of her chest as she lost herself for a few seconds in the dark depths of his eyes before she slipped one hand under his shirt, playing with her fingers over his skin and she took a subtle step forward, moving her hips so that her hip bone was brushing against him, causing him to suck in a breath.

She pressed her fingers into his stomach, raising up on her tiptoes to brush her lips over his cheek, completely forgetting that they were still in public where everyone could see them. But even if she would have thought of it she wouldn't have cared. She was too focused on him and in a completely femme fatale move she said. "Tough decision. I'm gonna think about it."

She let herself fall back on her feet and slipped her hand out of under his shirt, lifting both her hands up to right the collar of his shirt before she patted his chest and turned around, walking away slowly, giving her hips a seductive sway and Nick stood frozen into place, realizing that he might not stand a chance if Jessica Day decided to make him beg.

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**Since I intend to write a 'Christmas' chapter for each of my stories I'm not sure if I'm gonna be able to update this story before Christmas. So if I don't get around to it I wish everyone who celebrates it Merry Christmas. Enjoy the holidays with your family and don't eat too much! :-)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, guys! This chapter is especially to thank you for all these amazing reviews. Of course I write mostly because I need to get my version of the characters out of my head before it would drive me insane but I never imagined that so many would enjoy reading my version of Jess and Nick. **

**This chapter is a Christmas present for all of you, and you can also thank the amazingly awesome HIMYM ep from Monday for this chapter. My shipper heart is just so, so, so, so happy right now. **

**Just a reminder:**

**I am an angst fan and this story is rated M for a reason. Yes, even I think that was enough verbal foreplay. It's time for the smut. :-)**

**Oh, and this story is going to be a rollercoaster ride. Expect some 180 turns along the way. Nick and Jess are going to be all over the place. Just a warning. I hope you enjoy! :-)**

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**Chapter 4**

Standing in front of her door Nick suddenly asked himself if they hadn't overdone it with all the flirting and dirty talking because they'd set the bar pretty high. Weren't they determined to be disappointed after they'd made each other that hot? It hardly ever paid off to set your expectations so high. Didn't they say 'the higher you climb the harder you fall'?

Why had he been talking to her like that? He didn't even know what had gotten into him. Normally he was pretty self-conscious about his body and even though he was always telling the guys that he was good in bed a part of him always wondered if the women who left his bed were really satisfied. Because you only have to think of 'Harry and Sally' and the fake orgasm of Meg Ryan. It sounded very convincing and if Meg Ryan could do it, every woman could fake an orgasm.

He was showing nerves and he didn't like it. It was actually Schmidt's fault. If he hadn't made him help clean up after the party ended he could have slipped into Jess' room only seconds after she'd said her good-nights. But she'd disappeared behind her door about fifteen minutes ago and now he was standing in front of the door with trembling hands, almost too nervous to knock.

But then he remembered how she looked like in that sin of a dress and a smile curved up his lips. She had looked gorgeous and he hadn't lied. He was looking forward to seeing her naked again. He wouldn't let his nervousness get in the way. Not this time.

~N&J~

"Damn it, Schmidt." Jess cursed under her breath.

She was nervous and it was all Schmidt's fault. If he hadn't asked for Nick's help with the cleaning she would probably be already wrapped around Nick's body. She was pacing through her room, kneading her hands, her gaze flickering every few seconds to the door. As long as Nick had been looking at her with this heated gaze she couldn't think of anything else than having him inside of her. But now, alone in her room, she had time to think about everything that could go wrong.

She wasn't an Amazon who seduced men as if it was nothing. She didn't have any special moves. What if he would be disappointed? What if she wouldn't be good enough in bed for him?

She stared into the mirror and didn't recognize herself. What had she been thinking? A dress didn't make a woman. She was still Jess. The dress didn't change that. Suddenly she tucked at the dress, feeling as if it suffocated her. That wasn't her. This dress, the flirting.

She wriggled out of the dress, almost tearing it apart because she couldn't get it off soon enough. Throwing it into the corner she grabbed her pajamas and put them on, letting out a deep breath. Much better.

Stepping to the mirror, she raised her hands and pulled the pins out of her hair, letting it fall over her shoulders. Grabbing a paper tissue from the window sill, she rubbed it over her lips until all the lipstick was gone.

She couldn't pretend to be another person any longer. If Nick wanted her he had to want her just the way she was. The Jess who wore flannel pajamas in bed and not some silky nightgown that hardly covered her ass.

She already contemplated to slip under the covers and pretend to be sleeping. She wasn't sure anymore if she wanted to cross the line but before she could decide if she should evade him or not she heard the knock on the door and she knew she needed to face him.

~N&J~

"Come in." Jess said and cleared her throat, waiting for him to enter the room.

Nick's first thought was disappointment when he stepped into the room and saw that she'd already changed out of her dress and into one of her pajamas but then his gaze fell on her face, realizing that he wasn't the only one who was showing nerves. Somehow it made him less nervous to see that Jess wasn't that self-confident either.

She was standing in front of the mirror with her arms folded over her chest and her bottom lip drawn between her teeth. She looked like a frightened cat, ready to jump back if anyone would approach her. So he walked slowly towards the bed and lay down before he lifted his gaze to meet her eyes.

Jess didn't know what she had expected. But she'd actually thought he would come into the room and grab her and throw her on the bed and just make her forget all her doubts. But he still hadn't said a word, only walking to the bed and lying down. Did he expect her to jump him?

But then their gazes met and she released a relieved breath. She completely forgot the fact that they were friends and that Nick knew her a lot better than all the men she dated.

"Come here." Nick said softly, raising his arm and Jess walked over and slipped under it, snuggling into his side, burying her face in his neck. "Tell me when you feel comfortable again, okay?"

Jess only nodded and Nick put his hand on her shoulder, careful to not make any sexual move. He hadn't liked the expression on her face, hadn't liked the fact that he was the one who put it on there. Pressing his face in her hair he whispered. "We don't have to do anything, Jess. We can just lay here as long as you need to, okay?"

"Okay." Jess mumbled against his shirt, relaxing into the embrace.

It felt good to lie in his arms, knowing that he didn't expect anything from her. Just like that he had taken the pressure of her, and she enjoyed feeling his chest rising and falling under her cheek. They were lying silently in each other's arms for quite some time and a smile escaped her lips as she felt his hand, running up and down her spine. She didn't think he was even aware of doing it.

Then Nick turned his head slightly and pressed a kiss against her forehead and suddenly all the desire slammed back into her. She felt his scruff against her skin, his fingers playing along her back and her body began to tingle. She still wanted him. There was no way to deny it. As she tilted her head she was suddenly well aware of his cologne and she inhaled deeply, wondering how it was possible to be aroused by a scent someone had created in a lab.

"Are you sniffing me?"

"Yes." Jess admitted, taking another breath. "You are playing with unfair methods, Nicholas Miller."

"What are you talking about?" Nick asked confused, leaning back to have a look at her face.

"You're wearing Armani." Jess replied, pushing away from his body to face him.

"I'm definitely not wearing Armani." Nick said. "I can't afford Armani. I don't even know what brand my shirt and jeans are."

"I'm not talking about your clothes." Jess told him, letting out a soft chuckle. "I'm talking about your cologne. It's Acqua di Gio by Armani, right?"

"Yes, it is. But why is wearing it unfair?" Nick shook his head. "I don't get it. It's just a cologne."

"It's not _just _a cologne." Jess insisted. "It's Acqua di Gio."

"You said that already. What is so special about it?"

"I'm a sucker for it." Jess explained, cocking her head to the side and throwing him a lopsided grin. "Are you trying to seduce me?"

"I thought that's what I've been doing all night." Nick replied, relieved that she seemed to feel comfortable around him again.

"So you still want me?" Jess asked, holding her breath as she waited for his answer.

"I wanted you since the moment you dropped your towel and you were standing in all your glorious nakedness in front of me." Nick lifted his hand and brushed his fingers over her cheek. "There were times I wished I could just erase the memory out of my brain. It would have made my life a lot less like hell."

"Was it that bad?" Jess asked, dropping her gaze to his chest, fumbling with the labels of his shirt.

"Bad? Oh no, I'm not talking about that." Nick said, pulling her chin up. "Your body ... you look amazing, Jess. That was the problem."

"Huh?" Jess furrowed her brows, confused.

"I couldn't get you out of my head." Nick explained. "I didn't want to have those thoughts about you."

"And what thoughts would that be?" Jess asked, leaning down to press her lips against his and Nick's hand slipped into her hair as he opened his mouth and met her tongue, kissing her slowly but thoroughly.

Jess let out a surprised shriek when Nick suddenly pulled her down and shifted her around so that she was lying underneath him, his body pressing her into the mattress as he grinned down at her. "I even had fantasies about peeling you out of one of your flannel pajamas."

"You have?" Jess asked breathlessly, her nipples already tightened under his heated gaze.

"Yes." His hand trailed over the row of buttons on her pajama top, opening the one button at the very end and his fingers brushed over the exposed skin, a satisfied smile appearing on his face as goosebumps erupted on her skin. "I always imagined taking my sweet time with taking it off?"

"You did?" Jess breathed, her eyes fluttering shut when Nick leaned down to press his lips against the pulse point at the side of her neck while his fingers skimmed over her stomach.

"I told you I want to make you beg." Nick said, trailing his lips along the V of her top as his fingers opened the rest of the buttons. But he let the fabric still rest over her breasts, he didn't pull it away.

"At least take off your shirt if you want to torture me." Jess let out on a breath of air. "Let me touch you."

Nick looked down at her, smiling when he saw that her eyes were closed and her hands were curled into fists around the sheet. If she wanted to touch him who was he to deny it? So he leaned back on his knees and unbuttoned his shirt, throwing it on the ground, grinning when she still didn't open her eyes.

Jess had heard his shirt hitting the ground but she still asked. "Did you take it off?"

"Yes, I did."

"Good." Jess replied, opening her eyes and trailing her gaze up and down his torso. "Very good."

"I hope so." Nick said, leaning down again to continue with his task to drive her crazy. But at least she could feel his skin under her hands now.

Nick skimmed his fingers up and down her chest, only touching the swell of her breasts and Jess held her breath, hoping for him to slip his hands under the flannel and take her breast into his hand but he never did.

"Nick, please." Jess finally pleaded because she couldn't take it any longer. She wanted his hands on her. She wanted to feel his mouth closing around her nipples.

"Please what?" Nick asked, stilling his hand between her breasts while his eyes bored into hers. She could feel his erection pressing into her thigh and she didn't know how he could stay that calm when her whole body was on fire.

"Please touch me." She almost whimpered, grasping his hand, trying to push it under the fabric but he resisted her pull.

"I _am_ touching you." Nick replied, enjoying to make her squirm under his hands.

"You know exactly where I want you to touch me." Jess huffed out frustrated.

"You want me to touch your gumbo pot?" Nick teased, laughing out loud as he saw a flash of annoyance cross her face.

He was still laughing as she pushed him back and sat up and he laughed even harder when she pushed him on his back and straddled him, her face scrunched up with annoyance.

But suddenly her expression turned into a smug one and Nick almost choked on his laughter when she took her pajama top between her hands and pulled it open, revealing her breasts to him.

Jess pressed her center into his erection and congratulated herself when the amusement vanished out of his eyes, getting replaced by raw desire. She always thought that her breasts were too small but Nick certainly didn't think that. He stretched out his hand and brushed his finger over one of her nipples and Jess arched her back, pushing her breast further into his hand.

Nick sat up, wrapping an arm around her waist and pushed her gently back so that she bent back over his arm, almost pushing her breasts in his face and he pulled one nipple between his thumb and forefinger, twirling it slightly, watching her face intently.

Jess felt as if she would explode any second, every tug sent shivers through her body and she wrapped her hands around his neck, needing something to hold on to as she suddenly felt his mouth closing around her nipple and sucking it in and a groan escaped her throat as he twirled his tongue around it.

Nick thought his pants would burst open any second since his erection was pressing painfully against the zipper. Taking her nipple into his mouth had made him almost delirious with need. He wanted to suck her, fill her, lick her all over. Releasing her nipple, he pulled her head down, crushing his lips on hers, forcing his tongue into her mouth, kissing her hungrily.

Flipping them around, he pressed his body into hers, his mouth never leaving hers as he took one of her breasts into his hand again, feeling her nipple almost burning a hole in his hand.

Wrenching his mouth off hers, he panted heavily, leaning back to kneel between her legs and he slipped his fingers around the waistband of her pajama pants, staring into her eyes to make sure that she still wanted to take the last step.

Without saying a word Jess lifted her hips, giving him a silent answer to his silently asked question and he took a deep breath before he pulled it down her legs, covering her body immediately with his own again.

Jess pulled his head down, engaging him in another hot kiss and he trailed his hand down her body, slipping it between her folds, taking in a sharp breath as he found her already soaking wet and he pushed one finger into her, making her gasp under his mouth, pulling his finger slowly out of her, slipping it back in as slow, enjoying every moan he elicited out of her.

Jess couldn't wait any longer and she pulled his finger out of her, slapping his hand away to get to his pants and she fumbled frantically with his belt, her fingers shaking as she lowered his zipper and she sat up, wrapping her hands around the fabric and pushing it down, taking his boxer briefs down at the same time.

She didn't even notice that he wriggled out of his pants and socks. The moment she saw his cock springing out of its confines, her vision zeroed in on it and she licked her lips as she lifted her hand and took it in her hand, pumping it slowly up and down.

Nick closed his hand around hers, stopping her and Jess looked up questioningly but Nick could only shake his head. He was beyond forming any words. All he could think about was burying himself in her wetness and he ripped the condom packet, he had taken out of his pocket, open and pulled it down his length before he laid down between her legs, ready to enter her.

"Nick, wait. I've changed my mind." Jess whispered, pressing her hands against his hips.

He could feel her folds against the head of his penis and he gritted his teeth, almost not able to stop.

"Okay." Nick inhaled a deep breath and pulled back but Jess' hands shot forward and she dug her fingers into his hips.

"Where are you going?" Jess asked surprised.

"You just said ..." Nick said confused but Jess interrupted him impatiently.

"I didn't mean for you to stop, you idiot."

"Then what did you _mean_?"

"I'm choosing the second option." Jess replied quietly and Nick let out his breath on a whoosh. Her words had shot a jolt of electricity through his body and it took everything in him to not just slam into her.

"Are you sure?" Nick said barely above a whisper.

"I don't want slow. Not this time." Jess whispered. "Make me forget where we are. Make me forget who I am. Just take me, Nicholas."

His arms began to tremble with the effort to hold himself back and Jess was amazed to see what power she had over him. She trailed one hand over his chest, feeling him shiver and she wrapped it around his neck, pulling him down towards her while her other hand snaked between their bodies and took him firmly in her hand, guiding him to her entrance, releasing him to slip her hand around to his ass. She admired his self-control because he still didn't move, she could see the pulse hammering in his throat and realized that he wouldn't do what she wanted him to do if she didn't push him further.

Nick felt his heart hammering in his chest and he almost got off when Jess wrapped her hand around him but he still feared to give her what she wanted, not sure if she really wanted him to get rough. But then she pulled his head down to her, her breath brushed over his cheek and when her hoarse voice reached his ear, he almost got a heart attack.

"Fuck me, Nicholas!"

With the last word she dug her fingers in his ass and arched her back, raising her hips from the bed and he couldn't hold himself back any longer and slammed into her, burying himself completely in her and a long moan escaped her throat, her body arching even more into him.

He stilled inside of her, needing a few seconds to calm himself so that he wouldn't get off within seconds, relishing the feeling of her tight sheath around him. Jess closed her eyes, her breath coming out in sharp gasps. Having him inside of her felt amazing, but she wanted more. She wanted everything.

Her whole body vibrated and she opened her eyes slowly, searching his gaze and when she saw how he'd pressed his eyes shut, how his mouth was pressed into a thin line, her heart swelled in her chest. She lifted one hand to press it against his chest, directly over his heart, and her other hand stroked over his cheek until he opened his eyes.

"I want you, Nicholas. Oh my God, I want you so much." She brushed her fingers over the frown between his eyes, not believing that he could still hold back while he was buried inside of her when she was almost going crazy because she wanted him to move, and she said the one thing she was sure would make him move.

"Please, Nick. I'm begging you. Move!" She saw the smile erupting on his face and she added. "Take me hard. And fast. Please!"

She could see it snap inside of his eyes and she sighed relieved that she was finally able to make him snap as he drew back before he slammed into her once again. "Oh my God! Yes!"

Nick had tried to hold his grasp on the last restraints of his control but hearing her husky moans, seeing her eyes hooded with desire, feeling her body tremble as he slammed into her, pushed him over the edge and he gave her the wild ride she apparently wanted.

~N&J~

After three rounds of mindblowingly fantastic sex Nick thought he would fall into a coma-like sleep but sleep didn't come. Jess had fallen asleep about an hour ago, snuggled up against him, her head lying on his shoulder and he could feel her breath brushing over his skin every time she exhaled. He turned his head and looked down into her face, raising his other hand to brush the bangs away from her eyes. She shifted slightly and sighed quietly before she snuggled deeper into his body, her hand resting directly above his heart and Nick leaned down, burying his face in her hair for a second.

He had done what he promised himself would never happen. He had completely lost control and not only because she had whispered his name over and over again while he pounded into her. He had wanted to take her hard. The moment she'd wrapped her legs around him and drew him closer, he had lost it. He had driven into her with hardly restrained brutality, muffling her screams with his mouth, kissing her ferociously while he buried himself in her over and over again.

He'd thought that it would be just the first time. That all the pent-up tension which had been building up between them over the last months had to go somewhere. But the second and third round hadn't been any different. It had always started slow, with teasing touches and butterfly kisses, but every time it had been like if a switch had been flipped and their kisses had turned hungry, his fingers had tightened around her hips as he'd buried himself in her, driving himself as deep as he could. Looking back at the third time he felt like an animal. He had taken her from behind. Hard. It didn't matter that she'd liked it. That she'd even encouraged him to take her harder.

This uncontrollable passion, this animalistic lust ... it wasn't them. They were Nick and Jess. Two people who didn't have wild moves, two people who weren't adventurous when it came to sex. Who the hell were those people who went at it as if there was no tomorrow, not caring if they left marks on each other's bodies? He didn't recognize himself. That wasn't him and it was definitely not her.

He cursed under his breath as his gaze fell on her hip and he could see the bruises his fingers had left there. He'd hurt her. The problem was he didn't know if he could have stopped if he had really hurt her and only the thought that he might be able to hurt her without really wanting to, scared the shit out of him.

It was just too much. This wasn't how Jess should be treated. He'd fucked the hell out of her. You couldn't call it any other way and he left her body bruised and battered. No surprise that she fell asleep immediately. She must be exhausted and he doubted it was a good kind of exhaustion.

He felt terrible. It had been a mistake. He never should have touched her. He never should have acted on the attraction.

Carefully he pulled her hand down and slipped out of under her head. She sighed and he froze, releasing a relieved breath when she wrapped her arms around the pillow without waking up.

Silently he searched for his clothes and without bothering to put on his boxer briefs, he just slipped into his jeans and just shrugged on his shirt without buttoning it before he tiptoed to the door. His hand was already on the doorknob when her husky voice stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Nick, what are you doing? Come back to bed. It's Sunday. We can sleep in or we can go for another round."

Nick turned around slowly and his heart skipped a beat as he took in her tousled appearance. He would like nothing better than to slip back under the sheets with her, his body ached to take her again. But he would not let his body overrule his head this time.

Her happy grin slowly dropped from her face as she studied him and a frown appeared between her brows. "What's going on, Nick?"

"I'm sorry, Jess." Nick said quietly.

"Sorry about what?" Jess sat up, alarmed by the expression on his face.

"Sorry about what happened last night."

"You are ..." Jess narrowed her eyes and Nick flinched as her voice slashed through the air. "You're sorry? Sorry about what happened?"

"I shouldn't have let it get that far." Nick tried to explain, oblivious to the storm that was coming his way. "So yeah, I'm sorry."

"Get out!"

"Jess, I ..." Nick looked at her, confused. He had just tried to apologize for his rude behavior and he didn't think he deserved her anger.

"Get the hell out of my room!" Jess shouted, pointing with a trembling finger towards the door while her other hand was holding the sheet against her body. "Now!"

Nick didn't understand why she was so angry but he thought it would be best to just let her calm down a little and talk to her when she was ready to listen to him. He turned the doorknob and hurried out of her room before she would start throwing things at him.

Jess was staring at the now closed door, her whole body shaking with anger. She'd just had the most amazing night of her life and now he'd gone and ruined it. Making her feel as if they'd done something extremely dirty. Of course it had been dirty. It had been insanely hot and dirty sex. Sex that had almost stopped her heart from beating, sex that had driven her wild with need.

She would have never thought she could let herself go like this and she didn't want to feel ashamed that she'd begged him for more. That she'd wanted him to take her hard, almost demanding from him to take her to the fine line between pain and lust where she'd almost exploded as he'd filled her with feelings she'd never felt before. No, she wasn't ashamed. It had been the best sex she'd ever had and he would not let him taint it in any way.

She swung her legs over the bedside and stifled a groan as all her muscles protested against the movement. She was sore at places she'd never been sore before and feeling the slight burn between her legs she gritted her teeth, hissing angrily. "You bastard!"

She was furious. She didn't even feel the need to watch Dirty Dancing. She couldn't imagine shedding even one tear. They would vaporize anyway the moment they would hit her skin. She was seething with rage. No, she was definitely not in the mood for Dirty Dancing. She was in the mood for something violent, something along the lines of 'The Walking Dead'. She wasn't feeling heartbroken. She wanted to rip his head off and shove it up his ass. She couldn't remember that she'd ever felt that betrayed, that angry.

She would have never thought Nick would ever betray her like that. He didn't catch her. He'd pushed her over the edge and it felt as if she was still falling. The moment she would let go off the anger she would crash on the ground. She needed to hold on to the anger. Because the moment she would hit the ground her heart would shatter into a million pieces and she would not let that happen.

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**Yes, I'm the one obsessed with the scent 'Acqua di Gio' and I just made Jess obsessed with it, too. I swear I always check out the man when I smell it. :-)**

**I know this ending isn't very Christmasy but it's just where the story is right now. So, have a wonderful Christmas and, like we say here, a great slide into the new year with a hopefully manageable hangover the next day. I hope I'll see you all safe and sound in 2013. :-)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you so much for the reviews! **

**I don't want to bore you with details so I will just say that real life kicked my ass over the last few weeks and I'm really sorry it took me so long to update. Having a new addiction (**_a.k.a. __House M.D._**) isn't helping either.**

**I realized after I read a review that my A/N at the end of the last chapter was a little misleading. I meant the ending of the chapter not the ending of the story. I would never leave you all hanging like this. This story isn't over yet. I have way too much fun writing it! :-)**

**I hope you enjoy!**

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**Chapter 5**

Nick had dreaded to leave his room, hoping that he could avoid a confrontation with Jess as long as possible because judging by her outburst last night when she'd thrown him out of her room, it wouldn't be pleasant. He was pretty certain the storm wasn't over yet.

He'd tried to get some sleep since he hadn't slept at all during the night and had to go to work this evening. But his brain hadn't given him any rest. Every time he'd closed his eyes he could hear Jess' moans in his ears, could hear her saying his name in that hoarse whisper that had driven him crazy. He could swear he could still feel her skin against his, slick with sweat, her fingers digging into his ass.

Rubbing his hand over his face he shook his head, trying to get rid of the memories that were still haunting him even while his eyes were wide open. He prayed that it would go away, that the desire would just stop at some point and that Jess would forgive him sooner rather than later.

He hated to fight with her. He didn't mind their bickering. It was just something Jess and he were doing. It was their thing. But a full-blown fight where they were saying things to each other that they didn't really mean just to hurt the other ... no he didn't like to fight with her.

But he couldn't stay in his room forever. His stomach was growling for the last two hours and his bladder was telling him that he really needed to go to the bathroom. He contemplated for a brief second if he should just 'water' the plant to stall the inevitable but he knew he had to face her eventually.

Nick opened the door carefully, almost expecting her to jump out and hitting him with a baseball bat. He snorted silently when he realized how ridiculous that thought was. Jess would never hit him. At least not with a baseball bat, though he wouldn't be surprised if she would slap him. He hoped it wouldn't get that far. But if she needed to slap him to stop being angry with him he would gladly take one or two slaps.

He pushed his hands into his pockets and walked slowly towards the living room. He could hear the television but he didn't hear the sounds he had expected. No rumba music but screams and shouts and rapid gun fire.

Furrowing his brows he rounded the corner and saw Jess sitting on the couch, balancing a bowl of ice cream on her propped up knees. She didn't even throw him a glance, her eyes fixated on the screen as she shoved a big spoon of ice cream into her mouth. Nick stopped at the edge of the couch, waiting for her to look up but when she still didn't take notice of him, he turned his head, wondering what she was actually watching.

"What are you watching?" Nick asked curiously.

"I am watching 'Resident Evil'." Jess replied dryly without looking up. "You know, woman slaughtering everything that comes in her way. I can completely relate to that."

"Listen, about last night..." Nick began to speak, though he wasn't really sure what he wanted to say. But Jess didn't even let him finish the sentence as she interrupted him with an irritated hand wave as if he was a fly that bothered her.

"No need. I totally get it." She said without even making eye contact, her ice cold voice causing a shiver to run down his spine. "Now if you'll excuse me. I want to watch this movie."

"Jess, I'm ..." Nick almost bit his tongue when she swirled her head around and gave him a look that froze him into place. "I swear to God, Nick, if you apologize one more time I'm gonna castrate you."

Nick stared at her with his mouth wide open, afraid to make any move. He would have preferred it if she would have slapped him. With her hand, not with words. This verbal slap hurt a lot more than any physical slap ever could.

"Schmidt?" Jess yelled towards Schmidt's room, shooting daggers at Nick while she was waiting for Schmidt to come into the living room.

"What's up?" Schmidt asked as he strolled into the room.

"Would you please tell Nick that he should leave me the hell alone?" Jess elaborated.

"Aehmm, why aren't you telling him yourself?" Schmidt asked slightly confused. "He is standing right in front of you."

"I don't want to talk to him. So you have to tell him."

"Jess, this is ridiculous." Nick said, finally able to come out of his stupor. "We need to talk. Obviously!"

"Schmidt, would you please?" Jess huffed out an annoyed breath.

"Okay, yeah, sure." Schmidt said completely baffled now and he walked towards Nick, grabbing his arm. "Come on, man. Let's give her some space."

Schmidt was leading Nick towards his room, throwing a quizzical look over his shoulder before he turned around to his best friend, pushing him into his room, closing the door quietly behind him.

"What the hell did you do this time to piss her off?"

"Why do you assume I was the one who did something to her?" Nick shot back, not able to keep his guilty conscience completely out of his voice.

"Because I know it has to be you." Schmidt stated matter-of-factly.

Nick crossed his arms defensively in front of himself and glared into Schmidt's eyes for a few seconds before he suddenly slumped his shoulders. Averting his gaze, he said barely above a whisper. "We slept together."

"Terrific." Schmidt exclaimed, rushing forward to slap Nick on the back. "It's about time."

Nick raised an eyebrow and waited until Schmidt would realize that the scene he'd just witnessed in the living room was definitely not terrific. Nick could see the exact moment it dawned on Schmidt as his smile faltered and he furrowed his brows.

"Wait a minute. Why is Jess pissed off at you then?" Schmidt asked before a sudden sympathetic expression appeared on his face. "Was it that bad? I'm sorry. I can give you some advice if you ..."

"No, Schmidt." Nick almost yelled, interrupting him before Schmidt could give him some weird sex advice. "It wasn't bad."

"So what's the problem?" Schmidt asked, puzzled.

"The problem is that it shouldn't have happened." Nick told him quietly. "And I told her that."

"You know I love you, man." Schmidt replied, squeezing Nick's shoulder slightly before he turned to leave the room. When he reached the door, he turned around to Nick and looked at him with sad eyes. "But you are an idiot."

~N&J~

"Nicholas Miller, what did you do?" Nick's head shot up when he heard the hissed question right beside his ear. He had propped his head on his folded arms on the kitchen counter, after he hadn't been able to stay in his room for long. He hadn't dared to sit on the couch beside Jess but he couldn't stay away either, so he'd chosen to sit at the kitchen counter instead until he had to go to work. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't heard the front door opening and Cece's voice made him startle.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Nick grunted, immediately put into a defensive mode when he saw the angry expression on Cece's face.

"Schmidt called me." Cece replied sharply and Nick looked over to his friend who was sitting at the kitchen table, hacking into his laptop. He looked up when he heard Cece call his name but he only gave Nick a reproachful look before he turned his gaze back to his computer. He apparently couldn't hope getting help from his side. Reluctantly Nick looked back at Cece, waiting for her to shoot her accusations at him.

"So what's going on?" Cece said quietly, not wanting Jess to hear what they were talking about.

"I have no idea." Nick said stubbornly. He didn't need another person telling him what an idiot he was. They just didn't understand. He was doing it for Jess. But no one seemed to realize that he had Jess' best interests in mind.

"Do you have a death wish?" Cece hissed, punching his upper arm with her fist.

"Excuse me?" Nick asked incredulously, rubbing with his hand over the stinging sensation in his arm.

"I guess this is your fault." Cece pointed towards the couch where Jess was shouting at the television. "Yeah, give it to him. Yup, and off with the head."

"I can't believe it." Cece growled angrily. "I told her to jump. I told her you would catch her. You are such a coward, Nick Miller."

"I ..." But Cece didn't let him say anything before she interrupted him. "You better get going before I rip your head off or other parts of your body."

"I have to go to work anyways." Nick grunted, slipping down from the bar stool before Cece would really make good on her promise.

Cece waited until the door fell shut behind Nick before she walked slowly towards the couch, sitting down beside her best friend. Schmidt hadn't told her any specifics, just that Jess had a fight with Nick and that it would be better if she would come over and try to talk to her.

"Jess, honey? Can we talk for a sec?"

"Sure." Jess replied without looking at her. Cece grabbed the remote and pushed the pause button, waiting patiently until Jess sighed heavily and turned her head towards her. "What happened?"

"Nothing happened. Everything is peachy." Jess replied sharply, her voice indicating that she was extremely pissed. "Now can I get back to my movie?"

"Come on!" Cece grabbed her hand and howled her up from the couch. "Let's go to my apartment and get drunk. It looks like you need some stiff drinks. You are fuming."

Jess didn't say anything on the way to Cece's apartment and Cece began to worry in earnest. This wasn't at all like Jess. Cece risked a look out of the corner of her eye to gauge her current mood. Jess' body was ramrod straight, the tension radiating in waves from her body. Resolving this was going to take a lot of alcohol.

The moment they stepped into the apartment Jess went to the couch, slumping down on it. Slipping out of her shoes she pulled her legs up on the couch, hugging them close to her body and lying her head on her knees.

Cece stared at her hunched form for a few seconds before she decided it would be better to start this conversation with alcohol in their systems. This looked definitely not as if it had been a normal Nick/Jess fight. This was serious.

Cece mixed some strawberry margaritas, heavy on the tequila, before she joined Jess on the couch, putting the glasses down on the table.

"What did he do?" Cece asked softly but Jess didn't give her any reaction and Cece pressed further. "Jess?"

Cece rubbed her hand over Jess' back, wondering what had happened that had made her best friend that angry. She'd expected a tear stained face when Jess looked up but her eyes were dry when Jess met her gaze, her mouth set to a straight line.

Spotting the drink in front of her Jess grabbed the glass and downed half of its content in one gulp before she let her head drop back on her knees.

"Jess, talk to me." Cece said calmly and it took a few seconds before Jess turned her head so that she could look at Cece.

"I had the most amazing sex of my life, Cece." Jess said quietly before her voice suddenly took on an angry tone. "It was freaking awesome."

"Okay." Cece said carefully. "And why are you mad at him?"

"Because this bastard apologized for it." Jess yelled, jerking her head up from her knees before she jumped up from the couch, pacing frantically through the apartment. "He fucking said that he is sorry that it happened."

Cece let her vent, Jess needed to get it out of her system. Being a model she was very well acquainted with almost every derogatory name possible but Jess' colorful expressions topped everything she'd heard before. For all the time she knew Jess she'd never seen her that upset. But she also detected the hurt behind her rant and decided to approach the whole subject a little unconventionally.

After thirty minutes of shouting Jess had exhausted herself and she slumped back on the couch, clearing her throat and Cece thought it was as good a time as any and addressed the issue. "Jess, let me ask you a question."

"Sure." Jess said hoarsely, pressing her fingers against her temples. "Shoot!"

Cece hesitated for a second but then just went for it. "Do you want him to suffer or do you actually want to have sex with him again?"

"Are you freaking kidding me?" Jess stated exasperatedly, staring at her, her eyes wide open with shock. "I will never ever have sex with him again. Never."

"Jess, it's me. Your best friend." Cece stated calmly. She had seen the flicker of uncertainty in Jess' eyes. That flicker was all reassurance she needed to press further. "So, tell me the truth. If you want to beat him to a pulp I can arrange that but if you want to make him suffer in a whole different kind of way I'll help with that, too."

"What do you mean?" Jess asked cautiously, sitting up straighter, pressing her hands firmly against her thighs.

"If you want to have sex with him again you will have sex with him again." Cece stated plainly.

"How so?" Jess said disbelievingly, realizing too late that she had just answered Cece's question. Apparently being pissed at Nick didn't mean that she didn't want to sleep with him again.

"Jess, you're a woman. And he is a man." Cece chuckled slightly as she saw the dumbfounded expression on Jess' face.

"I think you need to explain it to me." Jess said, furrowing her brows. "I don't get it."

"It's time that you are pulling out the big guns." Cece explained. "But believe me if you push his buttons it can get a little rough. He might lose control."

"I like it when he loses control." Jess whispered, a blush creeping up her cheeks.

"Oh!" Cece said, a big smile spreading out on her face. "It was _that _good?"

"Yes, Cece." Jess replied, almost reluctantly. "It was _that_ good."

"Perfect." Cece clapped her hands, her eyes shining with hardly suppressed excitement. "He won't stand a chance."

"What do you have in mind?" Jess asked, getting slightly excited herself.

"You are gonna knock him off his feet." Cece told her with a sly grin on her face. "He won't know what hit him."

"Sounds great." Jess said eagerly, the sparks back in her eyes. "What do I have to do?"

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**Curious about the plan? I hope so. :-)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Thanks for the reviews. Each and every one of them made me smile! I love them.**

**I'm sure you can imagine that I grinned from ear to ear when Jess' phone went off in the last ep. After my jaw almost hit the ground. What a coincidence! And I totally agree with **_Popcorn_, **it was a little freaky. From all the songs out there they chose this one! ****I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Jess has "I'm so excited" as a ringtone and my mind went straight to the gutter. LOL. I couldn't help it!**

**So, ... ready for the plan? Then let's go! Oh, and remember this is a M-story. Consider yourself warned! :-)**

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**Chapter 6 **

With three margaritas in her system this had sounded much easier. Now she was struggling with her nerves, contemplating if she shouldn't just blow it off. She wasn't Cece. She wasn't confident. She could never pull that off. She would just embarrass herself. As if she could seduce him by flaunting around in front of him almost naked. She would just look awkward and nothing like the seductress she wanted to be.

Cece would probably kill her when she found out that Jess had chickened out since she'd managed to get Winston and Schmidt out of the apartment for at least a few hours. But she just couldn't do it.

But before Jess could get out of the shower she heard the key in the door and her heart jumped into her throat when she realized that it had to be Nick. Butterflies were fluttering in her stomach and sudden nausea overwhelmed her, making her almost throw up in the middle of the shower. This was ridiculous. She would just stay in the shower until he was in his room and then she could flee into her own.

Nick closed the door slowly behind him, throwing the keys on the dresser. Contemplating if he should get a beer, he stopped in front of the couch but realized that he was just not in the mood. The last two days had been exhausting. Schmidt hadn't been talking to him at all, Winston had only shot him pitying looks and Jess was acting as if he didn't even exist.

This was exactly what he had feared would happen if they would ever cross the line. Though he had to admit that it probably wasn't the actual sleeping together part. Judging by Schmidt's and Cece's reactions he had acted like a jerk and they were probably right. But Jess wouldn't even let him apologize to her. Every time he'd entered the room she came up with some task that couldn't wait any longer and disappeared. It was frustrating.

Looking around, he realized that the apartment was unusually quiet. Normally on weekends he was greeted by the sounds of the television when he came home from work, but not today. Then he remembered that Winston said something about being invited by Cece and he could assume Schmidt and Jess were also participating. He sighed, glad that for once he didn't need to deal with accusing glares or silent treatments. Maybe he would open a beer after all, take advantage of the fact that he had the TV for himself.

But before he could plop down on the couch with the beer in his hand, he realized that the sounds of streaming water didn't come from outside but from the bathroom. Someone was in there, showering. Furrowing his brows, Nick put the beer on the table and walked slowly towards the bathroom, curious who it might be.

Jess could hear Nick rummaging around in the living room. A few minutes later she heard the refrigerator door and sighed. He would probably plop down on the couch and watch TV. Gone was the plan to sneak into her room. Well, she could still rush out of the shower and into her room. But then she remembered the look on his face as he was standing in her room, apologizing to her for an insanely hot night full of magnificent sex and anger bubbled up in her stomach.

"You're a woman and he is a man." Jess muttered under her breath, repeating it over and over again like a mantra. "You're a woman and he is a man."

Men were driven by their hormones, right? What should probably go wrong? One more embarrassment in front of a man wouldn't really hurt her. But she would never forgive herself if she would let this chance pass. Taking in a deep breath, Jess turned off the shower and only dried herself haphazardly with the towel before she wrapped it around her body.

Jess was prepared to call out for him when she pulled away the curtain and almost jumped back in surprise when she saw him standing in the doorway. A blush crept up her cheeks and she adverted her gaze to the ground, cursing herself for being that cowardly. He would just go away, probably with an apology on his lips and she wouldn't hear the end of it from Cece.

But when she didn't hear anything after a few moments she looked up slowly, seeing that he hadn't moved at all and when she looked into his eyes she realized that Cece had been right. She just needed to focus on the expression on his face to lose all insecurities. She might not have much experience in this field but the hunger she could detect in Nick's eyes made it clear that Cece's plan was definitely working.

She was wearing only a towel that was barely covering her private parts, droplets of water were glistening on her skin, her hair was bundled up in a mess on the top of her head and Nick's mouth went dry and his mind went blank. All he could think about was getting his hands on her curves, ripping the towel away, closing his mouth around one of her erected nipple. When she finally looked up again, the breath he had been holding whooshed out of his lungs.

"Fuck!" Nick cursed, a surge of anger rushing through him. Of all the people he knew he wouldn't have thought that Jessica Day would be one who played with unfair methods. But when her eyes widened in mock shock he knew he was doomed.

"Nicholas, watch your mouth!"

He wasn't watching his mouth, he was watching hers. He wanted to press his lips on hers so badly that his body almost began to shake.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Nick groaned, his eyes almost popping out of his head when Jess stepped in front of the sink and leaned against it, folding her arms in front of her chest and crossing her legs at the ankles.

"Do you have a problem, Mr. Miller?"

"Yeah." He croaked out hoarsely. "One painfully big problem." One that was throbbing in his pants, making it impossible to think about anything else than the almost unbearable desire to bury himself in her.

"Can I help you with …" Jess paused, lowering her gaze to his mid-section for a second before she met his eyes again, arching one eyebrow. "... minimizing the problem?"

"Jess!" Nick growled, clenching his hands into fists beside his body. He wanted to shake her, he wanted to put a stop to this insanity. But he couldn't move. His brain told him to leave the room, but his body was rooted to the spot, demanding from him to take what she was apparently offering.

What happened to the Jess he knew? He felt dizzy as all his blood seemed to rush southwards and his heart almost jumped out of his chest when she tugged at the towel over her breasts, the movement revealing another portion of her thighs, coming dangerously close to revealing everything to his hungry gaze.

"You look a little pale, Nick." Jess said cockily and Nick snapped his eyes back to her face, gulping hard when he saw the smug expression on it. "Are you sure I can't help you? I can give you a hand …" Jess paused again, her mouth curling up in a lopsided grin, her eyes twinkling with amusement. Nick couldn't miss the suggestive tone of her voice and he groaned inwardly when she continued. "... if you need to lay down."

"Stop it, Jess." Nick huffed out frustrated, closing his eyes. If he couldn't move his body he could at least stop looking at her.

"Okay." Jess told him cheerily and Nick opened his eyes again, watching her intently, waiting for the catch. But apparently there wasn't any and he already wanted to heave a sigh of relief when Jess turned around to the mirror. But then she started to hum a tune and the moment he recognized the song he felt the urge to strangle her.

"Seriously?" Nick asked exasperatedly, his gaze dropping down to her ass that was wiggling along to her humming.

Jess watched him in the mirror and a grin escaped her lips when she saw the intensity of his stare fixated on her behind. Enjoying the whole thing way too much she decided to take it up a notch, wondering when he would snap.

"I'm so excited and I just can't hide it." Jess sang, swirling around, clapping one hand over her breasts to prevent the towel from falling down. Her eyes bored into Nick's, challenging him as she continued to sing. "I'm about to lose control and I think I like it.

"Okay, you win."

"What did I ..." But before she could finish the sentence Nick grabbed her and pulled her into his body, his hands reached under the towel and his fingers dug into her ass as his mouth crashed down on hers. He lifted her up until she wrapped her legs around his waist the towel sliding up so that only his clothes separated his erection from her.

He assaulted her mouth, ripping the towel away while they were still in the bathroom but Jess didn't care. She'd apparently pressed the right buttons and now he was losing control and she was right beside him. Her brain had stopped functioning properly, all that was left were her sensory organs going into overdrive, assaulting her. His smell, the taste of beer in his mouth, his hands burning hot against her flesh, the low growl that started at the back of his throat before it vibrated against her lips and she gripped his head, digging her fingers in the muscles at the top of his neck, her tongue clashing against his as she pressed her breasts into his body, rubbing her center against him.

Nick groaned deep in his throat and tore his mouth from hers, his eyes dark burning coals in his face. His breath came out in erratic hitches and Jess felt a sudden rush of pride cursing through her body for being able to arouse such passion in him.

"Just remember this is your fault." Nick rasped before he pressed her against the wall, his mouth shot down to her breast and he sucked one of her nipples hard into his mouth, eliciting a strangled whimper out of her.

Jess didn't even realize through the lusty haze that was clouding her senses that he had carried her across the floor into his room. His hands seemed to be everywhere at once, his mouth was on her nipple one second and on her mouth the next. She felt as if she would dissolve any second, being eaten up by the flames that were burning under her skin.

Nick let his hands fly over her body, giving one nipple a teasing tug before he soothed it with his tongue, biting down on it softly in the next second. He had no idea what had gotten into him but the moans and whimpers that tumbled out of her mouth spurred him on even further. She was trembling in his arms and all he wanted was hear her scream his name again, begging him for more like she did three nights ago.

He couldn't bear it any longer, he needed to get out of his clothes. Lowering her down on the ground, he waited until she was standing on her own feet, swaying slightly, her eyes fluttering open, giving him a confused look and he leaned forward, pressing his lips on hers for a hard kiss before he stepped back.

"Just one second." He promised, pulling his shirt over his head, his eyes only leaving hers for the second his shirt covered his face before he threw it on the ground, followed closely by his jeans and boxer briefs.

His hand reached for the box on the shelf right beside the door and he opened it without breaking eye contact with Jess, pulling out a condom before he closed the gap between their bodies, leaning down until his lips were mere inches apart from hers before he stopped. He waited one second, maybe two, before he turned his head and brushed his lips over the corner of her mouth, his fingers trailing down her stomach, enjoying the shivers that ran over her body.

"Tell me you wanted me. Tell me all you could think about the last three days was having me inside of you."

Jess shuttered out a breath, nearly passing out when his hoarse whisper reached her ear. She almost grabbed his hand to force it down the few inches so that he would finally touch her, give her at least some relief. She could feel her center throbbing, she needed him inside of her. She was one pulsing sensation and he expected her to say something? She didn't know if she could muster up the strength to make her vocal cords form any sounds beside moans and whimpers.

"Tell me I wasn't the only one who went almost crazy with desire. Tell me!"

"Nick?" Jess finally managed to get out, more a plea than anything else but he wasn't satisfied. "Tell me!"

Jess arched her back, a sob escaping her throat when his fingers slipped down and parted her folds. "Yes." She whimpered, taking in a sharp breath as he plunged one finger into her. "Yes, I wanted you. I want you."

Jess could hear him ripping the condom wrapper open but was unable to open her eyes, everything in her was concentrated on his fingers moving in and out of her and a groan slipped over her lips as he suddenly pulled them out of her. But before she could voice any complaint he lifted her up and she wrapped her legs automatically around his waist, sighing out a shuttered breath when his erection pressed against her entrance.

Seconds ticked by and he was still not moving and Jess forced her eyes open, hardly able to make out his face. "Nick?" She whispered, only able to string together single words, hoping that he would understand her desperate need to have him in her. "In. Now."

Nick shifted her even higher in his arms and waited another second before he plunged into her without any warning. Jess screamed out her pleasure, clinging to his body as he pounded into her, every thrust even deeper than the one before, hitting her at the exact right spot, driving her to a release that made her heart almost pound out of her chest and stars exploded behind her eyelids as her orgasm almost tore her body apart.

Jess didn't know how he was able to stand upright since he was also supporting her weight. She felt boneless, dizzy, satisfied. Nick's breath brushed over her skin, his head rested on her shoulder and she trailed her hands over his back, feeling him suddenly stiffen under her fingers. She almost wanted to slap him. He would do it again. She would not let him apologize again.

She wanted to keep him close but she could already feel how he slipped away, physically and mentally. Gritting her teeth, she let him go, putting her legs back on the ground. He stepped back, a hollow feeling settling into her heart the moment he slipped out of her. He turned around and walked through the room to the trash can, throwing the condom into it.

She watched his back for a few seconds before she leaned down and grabbed his shirt, pulling it over her head. She would not walk out of his room naked and she would not let him say one fucking word. As he turned back to her she was prepared. Standing upright ramrod straight, even though her legs felt like rubber, she pierced him with her gaze, her hands pushed into her hips.

"You don't have to say anything." Jess said firmly. "I know what you're gonna say? You're gonna say you're sorry and I don't wanna hear it, Nick. I loved it. I wanted it. I wanted you to fuck me against the wall. I wanted you to lose control. I did this. I made you lose control and I fucking liked it. So you don't get to apologize. Got it!" By now Jess was almost shouting but she didn't care. She was angry. Angry with him for pulling away again. "I crave this. It feels like I need you inside me to breathe. So I'm going to take you as often as I want and believe me you will regret it if you are apologizing to me again." Her voice became dangerously low and she took one step forward, pointing a finger at him. "I want it hard. And passionate. And I want it with you. So you better deal with the fact that I want your body because I won't stop having mindblowingly fantastic sex with you." Turning around sharply, she walked slowly to the door and opened it. But suddenly she stopped, turning her head to look back at him over her shoulder. "And by the way, you are not gonna get your shirt back. I'm taking it hostage."

Nick could only stare at the closed door, feeling as if he'd just got hit by a truck. She was Jessica Day. She didn't do casual sex. He should put a stop to this before she started to have feelings for him, feelings he didn't deserve, feelings he couldn't reciprocate. But as he was standing naked in his room, the smell of their arousal still lingering in the air, all he could think about was the fact that even though he had just been in her a few minutes ago, he already wanted to be inside her again. He wanted to feel her again. Around him. Against him. Maybe he would regret it, maybe he already regretted it. But he couldn't help it. He wanted more.

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**Like I said, my mind went straight to the gutter. :-) Enjoy tomorrow's episode. It sounds like it's going to be a good one. **


	7. Chapter 7

**I told you that I had a feeling that this chapter would be extremely raunchy and I was right. Well, I don't know if it's extreme but the second half of this chapter is definitely raunchy. Well, let's call it what it is. It's just unbridled smut. So, if this is not your thing you should probably stop reading because Nick and Jess are completely out of control in this chapter. :-)**

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**Chapter 7**

Jess stayed true to her word. She took him whenever she wanted. And she wanted him every night. Nick had stopped trying to talk himself out of it. Because he couldn't remember a time in his life when he had felt more satisfied.

He just couldn't get enough of her, most of the days he almost wished he could jump in time so that he could get the hell out of the bar and go home, knowing that she would be waiting for him in his bed. His impatience to get to her made him slip out of his shoes already in the hallway, leaving them outside the door, his hands were working on his belt the moment the door to his room was open and before he even reached the bed he was already naked, slipping under the covers, meeting her hungry mouth, tangling his tongue with hers while his hands roamed over her body. They never lasted more than a minute before one of them grabbed for the condoms to eager to be joined together to enjoy any kind of foreplay.

~N&J~

After two weeks she had shaken her head as he'd grabbed for a condom, her fingers tightening around his as she looked up in his eyes, whispering softly. "I've got it covered." Nick had looked at her questioningly for a few seconds and she had reached out her hand, trailing it along his jaw. "I want to feel you." He'd always practiced safe sex and he knew she had been too. He trusted her and he wanted nothing more than to feel her around him without anything separating them. Slipping into her without any protection made him almost come even before he was completely in her. Feeling her engulfing him tightly made his heart stutter in his chest.

~N&J~

The days he wasn't working she slipped into his room after the loft became quiet for the night. Some nights he was still awake, some nights she came to him in the middle of the night when he had already dozed off, her hand around him waking him up, pumping him slowly for a few seconds before she lowered herself on him, groaning out loud when he buried himself completely in her.

He still hadn't told Schmidt or Winston and he was pretty sure Jess hadn't told them either. They did know, though. It was impossible to keep something like that a secret in such a confined space but they hadn't said anything to him. As long as the loft dynamic was intact they'd apparently decided to leave them alone. Letting them enjoy whatever they had with each other.

~N&J~

Nick thought he was going insane. This thing, whatever it was, between Jess and him was ridiculous. During the day they were acting as if nothing happened between them, as if they were still friends that felt sometimes attracted to each other. No one who observed them would believe that the same persons who talked to each other nonchalantly during the day were the same people who had wild and incredible dirty sex at night.

Every damn night.

She was driving him crazy. Since that one time when she'd told him he shouldn't speak they'd never said a word during sex. Making it all that more intense. Letting their touches say more than words ever could. But the problem with the no-talking rule was that he had no clue what they were doing. Like an unspoken rule they never talked about it during the day and at night they didn't talk at all.

What was this? You couldn't call it a relationship but it was definitely more than friends with benefits because it was way too intense for being just casual sex. He could have sworn that Jess couldn't do the casual sex thing that she would start to have deeper feelings for him, asking more of him. But she didn't.

~N&J~

Jess hadn't planned that the whole 'taking him whenever she wanted' would get so out of hand. Alone the thought of Nick and what they were doing every night made her body ache with need. She didn't know what had possessed her when she had told him to stop talking.

Had she completely lost her mind? She always talked. Only talking to him during the day and keeping her mouth shut during the night was completely surreal for her. It felt as if she was an entire different person at night. Just taking what she needed, what she desperately wanted, with no regards for Nick's needs.

She hadn't known that she had it in her. Such a passion. But the moment she slipped into his bed it was as if she flipped a switch. Gone was the slightly chaotic Jess with the bounce in her step. The Jess who felt insecure when it came to sex. The moment her skin met his she stopped thinking, let her body just feel.

~N&J~

Jess didn't know what changed. Why they suddenly decided to start a teasing game. She didn't even know who started it.

Alone the words 'I'm going to take a shower' carried a whole lot more meaning now and both of them began to give the words a hardly noticeable seductive undertone, one that only they could detect, letting the other know what they would be thinking about in the shower.

Maybe it already started the day after her successful seduction of him in the bathroom. She'd uttered the words without thinking about the deeper meaning of them until Nick's head had wiped around and he'd stared at her a few seconds too long with eyes that had set her body on fire.

But then Nick started to randomly wear the cologne he'd worn this first time, sneaking up on her so that a whiff of the cologne hit her nose before she even knew that Nick was in the room and goose bumps erupted on her skin, Nick looking at her with a knowing smirk when she turned around to him.

Jess, in exchange, took revenge by using 'I'm so excited' as her ringtone, a satisfied grin spreading out on her face the first time her phone had started to ring and Nick had spitted his beer all over the couch table earning bewildered looks from Schmidt and Winston.

All the teasing resulted in sex that turned more violent, more desperate from night to night. They came together as if they'd been starving, as if they needed sex like the air they were breathing, as if they needed to build up reserves to get through the day until they could meet again at night. Jess didn't know how long they would be able to hide the scratches and bruises, how long it would take until one of them would leave marks that couldn't be covered by any clothes.

~N&J~

Jess was leaning against the refrigerator, one hand curled around a bottle of water, almost crushing it in her grip, while her other hand was trembling against her thigh. This was insane. She felt as if she had withdrawal symptoms. When did she become a nymphomaniac? Why was the only thought occupying her mind the thought of having sex with Nick?

She had cut herself off. Just stopped going to his room. And now she was standing in the kitchen, in the middle of the night, her whole body shaking as if she'd gone cold turkey. God, he was like a drug and she was addicted to him.

She heard his door click shut and all her nerves tingled with sudden awareness. She had tried to stay away from him because she was obsessed. But apparently he decided that it was time for him to make a move and Jess pressed her hands against the refrigerator, holding her breath as she felt him coming up behind her.

A shiver ran down her spine as he brushed her hair aside and leaned down, sucking her flesh in, probably leaving a mark behind as his teeth grazed her skin. Jess sucked in a breath, her legs parting slightly, the robe she was wearing falling apart and Nick's hand slipped around her, his fingers dancing along her inner thigh, causing shivers to run down her legs, a yearning ache settling deep in her stomach.

She wanted him. Badly. To hell with being obsessed. It felt just way too good to give it up whatever the costs might be. Without saying anything Nick swirled her around to the counter, pressing his hand on her back, putting on soft pressure until Jess bend forward, resting her chest on the counter. She could hear the sounds of his sweatpants hitting the ground and her breath hitched in her throat as he just shoved her robe up her back and pulled her panties aside, burying himself in her without checking if she was ready. Because he didn't need to check. She was always ready for him. He knew that.

He took her hard and fast and Jess bit down into the fabric of the robe, muffling a scream, well aware that Schmidt was sleeping only a few feet away. Somehow the thought of getting caught in the middle of the act by Schmidt made the whole act so much dirtier. It had been four days since the last time and she'd missed this. She'd missed him.

Suddenly he threaded his hand in her hair and made a fist, pulling her back up to him, and as she leaned against him, Nick slid a hand inside her robe, slipping his fingers over her over sensitized nipples, his other hand disappeared in her panties, searching and finding her most sensitive spot and rubbed it softly while he rocked hard against her, driving her body into an overload of sensations. His tongue darted in her mouth, silencing the moans that kept escaping her throat as he thrust into her until he pushed her over the edge, following her only seconds later.

Jess sagged down on the counter as the quivers of her orgasm subsided, pressing her cheek against the hard surface. She expected him to just slip out of her and walk back into his room. She couldn't move. She still tried to get her breath back. She just had dirty kitchen sex with Nick. While Schmidt was sleeping in his room and Winston was down the hall and it had been incredible.

She could hear him pulling his pants back up but she couldn't turn around. She couldn't face him because she knew she should feel embarrassed and ashamed and she expected to see guilt written all over his face.

But Nick actually righted her robe and took her hand, pulling her with him as he walked back into his room, taking her completely by surprise. Like always they didn't say a word and he closed the door silently behind them, turning around, his eyes taking her in hungrily, making her heart sped up again.

She was beautiful. He had turned his bedside lamp on before he had stepped out of his room to confront her in the kitchen and the soft glow was casting shadows over her face. Her cheeks were slightly flushed, her hair framing her face in a tousled mess and suddenly she straightened, her posture getting defensive, her eyes shooting daggers at him, daring him to say something stupid. God, she was so beautiful.

He hadn't intended to have sex with her in the middle of the kitchen. He actually wanted to talk to her but when he had seen her leaning against the refrigerator in this flimsy robe, the need to talk to her had vanished in a heartbeat, his body reminding him painfully that it had been four days since he had been in her and he just needed to take her. Right then and there.

A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips as he realized that she was probably expecting another apology from him. She couldn't be further away from the truth. He didn't feel sorry at all. His smirk grew broader and he saw her eyes narrowing dangerously as she folded her arms in front of her chest, ready to fight.

But before she could open her mouth to say something, something probably tart, judging by the storm clouds that were gathering in her eyes, Nick closed the gap between them and yanked her in his arms, crushing his lips on hers. He wasn't finished with her yet. She had made him wait four excruciatingly long days. He would make her pay for torturing him like that.

Pushing her softly backwards, he walked towards the bed, his fingers untying the belt of her robe and slipping it down her shoulders before he was lying down on the bed with her. He kissed her softly, trailing a path down her throat and cleavage, circling her nipple with his tongue, his lips barely touching her skin and Jess almost wept under his tender hands. As rough as the encounter in the kitchen had been as gentle were his touches now. She was treating her as if she was made out of glass and could break if he touched her too hard.

He was stroking her softly to another orgasm, his fingers only brushing over her clit and she shattered under his caresses, hardly aware of him slipping inside of her while she was still riding out the last waves of her orgasm. But he didn't even let her get down completely as he started to move inside of her, taking her with slow and deep thrusts. She wanted to touch him, scratch him, but he had pulled her arms over her head and was holding her hands down, as he tortured her with thrusts so slow that she could feel every inch of him slipping along her walls.

But then she pushed into her hard and deep and a strangled moan escaped her throat as he gave her a few hard thrusts before he continued with his excruciatingly slow strokes and Jess began to whimper, her whole body tensing up in anticipation of his next deep thrusts.

What had begun as an attempt to torture her, making her regret to stay away from him, ended with him being completely in her hands. Seeing her arching into his touches, feeling her shatter under his hands, left him completely out of control. His arms began to tremble as he took her slowly and he grew even harder as he heard her whimpers, felt tremors running over her skin. He wanted it to last forever. He wanted to never leave her body again.

He altered his pace, giving her a few hard and fast thrusts before he slowed down again, watching her come undone under him. He could feel her walls starting to flutter around him and she opened her eyes, his name a hoarse whisper coming over her lips, as he took her higher and higher, her eyes showing him that she wasn't holding back anything, giving herself completely to him and as her orgasm hit her hard, squeezing him tightly, he had to look away, the vulnerability he'd seen in her eyes knocking the breath out of him while his own release spilled into her body.

Nick crashed down on her, almost crushing her under his body, breathing hard as he tried to get his bearings back. This was too much. They were completely out of control. Rolling down from her, he took her with him so that her head was lying on his chest. He couldn't look at her right now. He couldn't even function anymore if he couldn't have her every night. The next time he might take her in the middle of the day. This was insane.

~N&J~

Jess was lying on the bed, staring up to the ceiling, Nick sleeping soundly beside her. This wasn't healthy. If they kept going like this they would end up giving each other a heart attack. It should have cooled off by now. It had been six weeks since the first time. Six weeks of hot, magnificent, earth-shattering sex. One would think they would have gotten it out of their systems by now. But it seemed to even heat up instead of cool down.

She didn't know how long her body would be able to manage getting pushed to its limits night after night. She was in desperate need for some alone time to think about the insanity of it all. She needed to get the hell out of the apartment for a few days. She needed a break.


	8. Chapter 8

**I was working on the next chapter for '**_A TWD Date_**' but parts of this chapter just kept popping up in my brain, and then I was lying in bed Sunday morning and read the spoilers for upcoming episodes and got distracted by them and needed to get the first chapter of my 'spoiler' story out of my head. So, you can see my muse was a little busy over the weekend. :-)**

**But I finally got around to finish this chapter and well, they are gonna be really passionate in this one. Not to mention Nick's thoughts. ;-) You've been warned! **

**Oh, and remember when I told you that Nick and Jess are going to be all over the place in this story? Well, this is one of those chapters. Rollercoaster ride ahead! :-)**

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**Chapter 8**

When Nick woke up in the morning Jess was gone and he called himself a fool when he reached over and outlined the imprint her head had left on the pillow. He could be such a sap sometimes. But it had felt nice, the few times she'd still been in his bed in the morning. He wasn't a morning person but watching her sleep, admiring her body without her noticing it were the best parts of his days.

It had only happened about five times and each time he couldn't resist waking her up by slipping under the covers and kissing his way down her body, always ending up between her legs and no matter how often she told him she didn't want him to do it and tried to pull him up, her protests always ceased after a few seconds.

A smirk appeared on Nick's face as he remembered how her hands always tightened around the sheets, how she always seemed to fight against coming like this but always lost the battle. She'd done it to him quite a few times too and looking at it from his point of view he was just returning the favor. He enjoyed seeing her face all flushed, slight embarrassment lingering in her eyes when she could taste herself on his lips. The sex was always a little wilder when he'd given her an orgasm like that, making him want to go down on her every time just to see her lose control.

His smirk faltered as he realized that he'd turned around and had pressed his face into her pillow, smelling the scent her hair had left on it. Furrowing his brows, he leaned back and stared at the pillow as if it was its fault that he was acting like a lovesick puppy. He almost bit through his tongue as the meaning of his thought hit him.

_Lovesick puppy? Love?_

His throat went suddenly dry and his heart hammered against his ribcage. Love? Was he in love with Jess? The thought had never occurred to him until now. Most of the times his mind had been consumed with images of her being naked under him, moaning with pleasure, urging him to give her more. Now and then he had asked himself if they shouldn't give a real relationship a try. With dates and all the other normal couple stuff. But love? No, he'd never sat down and tried to shine a light on his feelings for her.

His head was spinning and it was definitely too early in the morning to take a closer look at his feelings. His brain wasn't functioning at this time of the day. A small voice in his head told him that his brain had nothing to do with it but that he needed to listen to his heart. Looking at his own actions, at his own thoughts, he was afraid she meant more to him than he was willing to admit. He wasn't ready to say it out loud but deep inside he knew it.

He was in love with Jess. His sometimes chaotic roommate, with eyes that were too big for her face, with a too trusting heart. He might have fallen in love with her a long time ago but never ever admitted it to himself. Maybe he'd already fallen in love with her as she told him in the middle of nowhere that she only wanted him to be happy and that she would be fine because she met him.

He'd changed his mind about moving in with Caroline because of this conversation. They never talked about it. They never needed to. A shared smile across the hallway, a heartfelt 'Welcome back, you clown' and they went back to normal. Acted as if the conversation had never happened. Looking back at that moment he couldn't believe that it had taken them so long to finally act on their attraction, making him wonder how they had been able to stay away from each other for that long.

He stumbled out of bed about an hour later, feeling somehow raw after dissecting his own feelings. Jess wasn't in the apartment when he emerged out of his room and he was glad that he had a few hours to put himself back together. He wasn't exactly sure how he should behave around her after realizing that he was in love with her. They didn't even have a real relationship. He could hardly blurt it just out and drop a bomb like that on her.

He decided he would just treat lightly. Starting off with asking her about taking the next step and making it official. He actually looked forward to seeing her again, feeling like a kid on Christmas Day eager to open the presents.

But time went by and Jess didn't show up. As the sun went down outside and there was still no sign of Jess he started to get slightly worried, trying to shove away the weird feeling that settled in his stomach by telling himself that she was probably out on a drink with Cece and that it would be completely inappropriate if he would call her and act like a jealous boyfriend in need to check up on his girlfriend.

But one hour later Schmidt entered the loft, accompanied by Cece and Nick looked expectantly past them but was only greeted with an empty hallway. Furrowing his brows in confusion, he turned to Cece. "Isn't Jess with you?"

"Nope." Cece said curtly.

"Do you know where she is?"

"Yes."

"And?" Nick prodded.

"I'm not gonna tell you."

"Why?"

"Because she doesn't want to see you."

"What?"

"I have no idea what you did but she stumbled into my apartment about three hours ago and told me that she needed a break and that she doesn't want to talk about it. What did you do, Nick?"

Seeing the utter confusion on his face, Cece said softly. "You have no idea why she wants a break?"

Nick just shook his head and Cece took pity on him and threw her keys in his direction. She knew Jess might see it as a betrayal of the girl's code but she didn't think they would solve whatever problem they had by Jess hiding in her apartment.

"Oh, Nick?" Cece shouted after him and Nick poked his head back into the loft. "If you hurt her ..." Cece said, letting the rest of the sentence unfinished, just raising her eyebrows in warning.

"I won't." Nick assured her, throwing her a lopsided grin before he disappeared behind the door, slamming it shut behind him.

~N&J~

Jess was laying her head back on the edge of the bathtub, closing her eyes and slipping deeper into the water. She really missed a bathtub. There was nothing better than relaxing in a warm bath with a bottle of wine beside you. She stretched her legs, groaning softly as her muscles ached, reminding her of their activities the previous night.

She felt her body quiver as she remembered his hands roaming over her body ever so softly, his excruciatingly slow pace as he'd made love to her. What they'd done in the kitchen had been sex, hot and dirty, mind-blowingly fantastic sex. Sex that made her cheeks blush by only thinking about it. But what had happened in his room later had been more than sex, it had been more than the need to satisfy some biological urges.

Groaning out loud, she clonked her head repeatedly against the edge of the bathtub. She was in trouble. Last night had stirred up feelings in her she wasn't quite comfortable with. She should have seen it sooner, it shouldn't have been such a surprise. These feelings didn't just pop up out of nowhere, they might have lurked in the shadows of her heart for quite some time now, just waiting for the right moment to break through to the surface.

She was in trouble. In big trouble. Because last night had opened her eyes. Sometime along the way, sometime in the last six weeks, she had fallen in love with him. It hadn't been head over heels, it had rather snuck up on her. With every night she had spent with him, her feelings for him had deepened, going unnoticed by her because she hadn't been able to think clearly when her body was humming under his caresses at night and screaming for more during the day.

"Oh God, I'm in love with Nick Miller." Jess whispered into the silent room, hearing the surprise in her own voice. Reaching blindly for the wine glass behind her, she grabbed it and emptied it in one gulp. Her hand tightened around the glass and she laid her arm over her eyes, her mind reeling. "I'm screwed. This wasn't supposed to happen. I wasn't supposed to fall in love with him. I can't be in love with my roommate. I just can't."

Her eyes snapped open as she suddenly heard the front door slam shut. Cece wasn't supposed to come home until much later. Apparently there had been a change of plans or she'd had a fight with Schmidt. A gasp escaped her as the door of the bathroom was yanked open and Nick stomped into the room. The glass of wine almost slipped out of her hand and she had to keep herself from shifting the foam on the water to cover herself. It wasn't as if he'd never seen her naked. Trying to cover herself would be utterly ridiculous.

Her heart was beating like a drum in her chest and she looked wide-eyed up at him. She hadn't even had the time to come to grips with the realization that she was in love with him and now he was standing in front of her, all furious, and stole her breath away.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Nick snapped. He was angry with himself for thinking about love just a few hours ago when she was apparently not feeling anything remotely similar. She didn't want more, she apparently wanted less and not willing to deal with the hurt this thought inflicted in his heart, he masked it by snapping at her.

"Aehmm, taking a bath!?" Jess squeaked, pressing her back hard against the bathtub, wishing she would have had a few minutes to get her bearings back before he'd burst into the room.

But she couldn't think right now and her body was already betraying her. She wanted a break, she needed a break. But looking up at him as he towered over her with an angry expression on his face, his brown eyes shooting fire, she couldn't recall one reason why she had wanted a break. She felt a deep tug in her stomach and her nipples hardened under his angry stare. God, she was turned on by his anger. She was really gone beyond any help.

Nick leaned forward, putting his arms on the side of the tub and leaned even closer, getting into her face and suddenly Jess remembered their first kiss on the roof and she just grabbed his shirt and yanked him down to her, intending to crash her lips on his but apparently she'd taken him completely by surprise and he lost his balance and tumbled headfirst into the water.

As he tried to get out of the water, he slipped and landed completely in the water, only his feet tangling over the edge. As he finally managed to sit up, his clothes clinging to his skin Jess looked at him and burst into laughter.

"Very funny, Jessica." Nick growled, wiping his wet hair out of his face. "I'm soaking wet."

"Ah, don't pout, Nicholas." Jess grinned, brushing a wet lock away from his forehead. "I like you soaking wet."

"You do?"

"You look hot."

"I'm looking hot?" Nick asked surprised, searching her face for any sign that he was messing with him. But the way she looked at him all the anger drained out of him, replaced by a surge of hot desire.

She was kneeling in front of him, suds of foam trailing down over her body, one foam flake slipping over one of her nipples, taunting him. Without taking his eyes off her he slipped out of his shoes and leaned forward to take off his socks before he pushed himself back and stood up, not caring that the rest of his jeans would get wet too. Realizing in which position he had put her with her kneeling in front of him, her mouth only a few inches away from his erection, he stepped back hastily, a splash of water sloshing over the edge of the tub and Jess let out a chuckle at his hasty reproach.

"Don't taunt me." She said huskily, her eyes lingering on his mid-section right in front of her eyes and Nick gulped hard as she stood up, the water running down in rivulets over her slim form. "Let's get rid of your clothes, shall we?"

Nick couldn't help reaching for her and pulling her into his body, his lips searched hers for a passionate kiss, his hands slipping around her waist, almost crushing her against his body. Her hands found her way around his neck, pulling his head down to her as she reciprocated the kiss with the same passion.

"So, are we allowed to talk this time?" Nick asked hoarsely as they needed to come up for air, one hand trailing down her spine, settling against the small of her back, his fingers brushing over her ass and goosebumps raced over her whole body as she leaned back and grinned up at him. "Only if you help me with getting you naked."

She began at the bottom of his shirt and he started with the buttons at the top, the task turning out to be a little bit of a challenge with a soaking wet shirt. When they finally managed to get them all open, Jess slapped the shirt away from his chest impatiently, leaning down to flick her tongue over one of his nipples.

Nick groaned out loud, cursing under his breath as the shirt caught on his wrists and with Jess' mouth drawing patterns over his chest he wasn't able to get it off.

"A little help here." Nick muttered frustrated, but Jess just slipped her hands down his stomach, her fingers working on his belt as she mumbled against his skin. "I'm busy."

Nick swore loudly and just ripped the shirt off his hands, not caring that he teared the fabric apart. He felt how Jess lowered the zipper of his pants and throwing the wet material on the floor, he reached down, trying to shove the jeans down his legs but he realized that the wet fabric clung to his skin and another expletive slipped over his lips, making Jess chuckle.

"Easy, tiger. Brute force isn't gonna get us anywhere."

With their combined efforts they were finally able to take his pants off, followed closely by his boxer briefs and Nick pulled her back into his arms, a jolt of electricity surging through him as her naked body made contact with his.

Lowering himself back into the water, he pulled her down with him and Jess put her legs on either side of his thighs, straddling him. Reaching down she wrapped her hand around him and guided him, gasping when a flush of hot water entered her body as he pushed into her.

Jess didn't know if the realization that she loved him made it so much more intense but when she rocked against him, as his lips closed around her nipple, as he took her with deep thrusts, it felt like he wasn't only touching her body but also her heart, her soul and as she shattered around him, she realized as the waves of her orgasm ripped through her body that her heart was lost forever. It belonged to him and she knew he would have a hold on it forever.

They didn't say a word when they stepped out of the tub and reached for some towels to dry themselves off. Jess was struggling with the emotions that were cursing through her body and Nick was apparently deep in thoughts himself.

Nick rubbed the towel over his body, his hands were shaking and he tightened them around the fabric, not wanting Jess to notice. The intensity of what just happened between them made him feel weak. He couldn't look into her eyes, afraid that he would see right through him and realize that his feelings for her were much deeper than they probably should be.

"We have a problem." Jess looked up at him questioningly and he chuckled, pointing at the wet pile of clothes on the floor. "I have nothing to wear."

"I'll go fetch something for you." Jess said, relieved to have an excuse to flee the scene. She couldn't handle being that close to him right now. "I'll be back in half an hour."

~N&J~

As Jess entered the loft Cece and Schmidt were sitting on the couch, arguing about which program they should watch. Jess just waved her hand in their direction and went straight to Nick's room. She didn't feel like talking.

Looking after her Cece furrowed her brows, raising a hand to stop Schmidt from arguing any further. She had gotten some strange vibe from Jess.

"I just need to ..." Cece trailed off, standing up to follow Jess, intend on finding out what was bothering her best friend.

As she entered Nick's room she found Jess standing in front of his bed, her face buried in one of his hoodies and when Jess looked up, Cece hurried over to her, alarm bells going off in her head as she saw the pained expression on Jess' face.

"Jess, what's wrong?"

"I can't …" Jess gulped hard, clenching the hoodie tightly against her chest. "I need to end this."

"I swear if he hurt you I'm gonna ..."Cece growled.

"No, Cece. No. He didn't hurt me." Jess interrupted her, grabbing her arm in case she wanted to rush out of the loft to find Nick. "It's just … I can't live like this anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"All I can think about is him. Having sex with him. God, Cece. We had sex in your bathtub." Cece wrinkled her nose in slight disgust and Jess added quickly. "And I'm sorry. I'm gonna bleach it. Promise."

"Okay, I don't really like to think about you two having sex in my bathtub but why end it with him? You apparently want him." Cece said, watching Jess intently. The way her best friend was worrying her lip, she might draw blood any second. Taking Jess' hand in hers, Cece pulled her down with her as she sat down on Nick's bed. "Jess?"

"Yes, I want him." Jess pulled her hand out of Cece's grip and buried her face in her hands, murmuring through her fingers. "I want him so much that it hurts."

Rubbing her hand up and down Jess' back, Cece stayed silent, a little taken aback by the desperation in Jess' tone. Suddenly Jess jerked back and turned her head. "But this is insane. We don't have a relationship. All we have is sex."

"And you want more?" Cece asked carefully.

"Cece, we don't even talk. We've never talked about … IT. It's like if our brains shut down the moment we are behind closed doors." Jess threw her hands up in exasperation before she let them drop into her lap, saying barely above a whisper. "But yes, I want more. I don't want to have only sex with him. But I don't think he wants more. So I have to end things. Before we'll ruin our friendship. I think … maybe now we still have a chance to go back to the way we were before. It might be hard but I think we can make it work. I don't want to lose him, Cece. I want it all but if I can't have all … I can't lose him as a friend. I just can't."

"I don't know if ending whatever is going on between you two is the right thing to do, Jess. I really don't. Nick and you … you work differently." Cece told her, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm sorry. I can't give you any advice. You have to decide for yourself what's best for you. Best for both of you."

"I know." Jess said quietly. "But it's the right thing to do."

~N&J~

Half an hour later she was back at Cece's apartment. Handing Nick his clothes, she watched him silently while he got dressed.

"Jess, what is it?" Nick asked, as he looked up and saw the expression on her face.

"Hmm?"

"You have that look on your face."

"What look?"

"That look that tells me that I might not wanna hear what you are gonna say next."

"I think we should stop." Jess said softly, forcing herself to keep eye contact with him.

Nick's heart dropped into his stomach. He was almost one hundred percent certain what she was talking about but he still couldn't help to ask. "Stop what?"

"Having sex."

"Why?"

"Because this ... it isn't healthy." Jess tried to explain. "We had just sex in the bathtub of my best friend, Nick. This isn't normal. This is manic. We've turned into sex addicts."

"And that's such a bad thing?"

"Yes. If it consumes my whole life." Jess huffed out frustrated. "I can't function normally anymore. My body has full control over my brain and ... I want my friend back."

"What do you mean with _back_?" Nick asked incredulously. "I was never gone."

"It just felt like, over the last two weeks, we were only constantly teasing each other during the day and at night we just exploded. Everything we said, everything we did was charged with sexual innuendo. I just fear if we go on like this one of us will break eventually and I don't want this to happen. I'm not willing to screw up our friendship, Nick. You know how important our friendship is for me. If we continue ... I'm afraid one of us will get hurt and our friendship is ruined."

"I guess you mean, we should stop having sex before I will inevitably hurt you." Nick said, his voice sounding defeated.

"No, that's not what I'm saying. I ..." Jess started to speak but Nick interrupted her.

"It's okay, Jess. I get it. I'm Nick Miller, the guy who screwed up every relationship he had in his life and you're right. Our friendship is more important than some hot rounds between the sheets. We had a great time together but it's over now. I'm good with that."

Jess heard was he was saying but his body language was telling her the complete opposite and when he walked towards the door, Jess hurried after him. "Nick, wait!"

"It's fine, Jess. I understand." Nick said, his hand already on the knob and Jess could just stand like paralyzed as he turned it and walked out of the apartment, closing the door quietly behind him.

She'd wanted to save their friendship but somehow she'd managed to hurt him. Probably even ruin their friendship. Leaning back against the door, she slipped to the ground and hugged her legs closely against her body. She'd just realized that she was in love with him and now he might never talk to her again.

In one night she'd lost everything that mattered. She'd lost the intimacy she'd shared with him because she'd thought it was necessary to give up the sex to keep her best friend. But as it turned out her attempt to make the right decision had also cost her his friendship. She couldn't even cry, she just felt a burning sensation right where her heart was, a stinging pain as the lost of his friendship drove like a knife through her heart.

* * *

**Now I can only wish you a happy episode tonight. After all this angst you might need some laughs and it looks like we are gonna get some great Nick/Jess scenes. :-) **


	9. Chapter 9

**First off, thank you so much for all the reviews and over 100 alerts! It makes me really happy that so many seem to enjoy this little ficlet. :-)**

**Second, I know it seems to be like forever since I last updated this and I'm sorry for the long wait. But I don't like to force my writing in a certain direction. My muse just doesn't work that way. She just refuses to give me anything if I try to will her into submission. But she was cooperative today, so you'll get this long overdue update and I hope you're thrilled to hear that it got completely out of hand, length-wise. Expect another rollercoaster ride. :-)**

**Before you start to read you should know that I am a huge **_Moonlighting_** fan. Bruce Willis as David Addison was my first TV crush. :-) David and Maddie were just so much fun to watch. Nick and Jess really remind me a lot of those two. Their fights were legendary and their kisses as passionate as the kisses between Nick and Jess. So yeah, I couldn't resist using the show in this chapter. **

**If you didn't know the show you might want to watch the fighting/kiss scene between David and Maddie at the end of season 3 (search for **_David and Maddie sex scene _**on Google and you will find some links). It's actually the scene that started the whole **_Moonlighting curse_**, which I'm sure you've already heard about,**** and it's the scene Jess is watching over and over again in this chapter. **

* * *

**Chapter 9**

"How often do you need to watch this per day again?" Cece asked tentatively, wrapping a towel around her wet hair as she walked over to the couch Jess was sitting on. The song 'Be my Baby' was coming from the screen and she groaned inwardly, preparing herself for watching the movie over and over again for at least a week.

"It's not 'Dirty Dancing'." Jess replied, not taking her eyes away from the scene on the TV.

"But the song ..." Cece said confused.

"Yes, it's also a 'Dirty Dancing' song but I'm not watching 'Dirty Dancing'." Jess said absentmindedly.

"What is this?" Cece asked, her gaze wandering for the first time towards the screen and she needed only a few seconds to recognize what Jess was watching. "Wait a second. That's Bruce Willis. You are watching 'Moonlighting'?"

"Yeah. I thought I needed a change."

"But 'Moonlighting'?" Cece asked with utter disbelief. "Do you really think that's such a good idea?"

"Why not?" Jess replied. "At least you don't have to watch the same movie over and over again with me. I thought you would appreciate that."

"Jess, are you trying to torture yourself more than necessary?"

"What do you mean?" Jess asked, pressing the rewind button to rewatch the whole making-out scene.

"This." Cece said exasperatedly as Jess started the episode again, the angry voices of David and Maddie filling the room as they had one of their shouting matches on-screen. "They are so much like you two."

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

"Look at them." Cece said, her voice getting louder.

"What am I looking for?" Jess asked, throwing a questioning look towards her best friend.

"Do you really don't see the parallels?"

"What parallels?"

"Look how they get in each other's faces."

"That's what they do." Jess said calmly. "Come on, Cece, we've watched the re-runs together when we were teenagers. You know shouting matches between David and Maddie were the order of the day. I always considered it kind of a verbal foreplay between them until they finally stopped being such sissies and just got it over with."

"And that doesn't remind you of anyone else?" Cece asked, shaking her head slightly. "Are you deliberately so dense or do you really not see it?"

"I never slapped Nick." Jess replied, knowing damn well what Cece was talking about. Deep down she knew that watching this show was only deepening the pain. Because of course she saw the parallels. You had to be blind and deaf to not see and hear it.

"But I'm sure you've thought about it."

"Yeah, maybe once or twice." Jess admitted. "He can be so stubborn sometimes."

"So you yell at him." Cece said, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"Yes. Because he is really infuriating from time to time."

"And you're enjoying your shouting matches, aren't you?"

"Of course not." Jess said firmly. "We are yelling at each other."

"Are you sure?"

"Fine." Jess huffed out a sigh of frustration. "I might enjoy it a little bit."

"So you two are like David and Maddie."

"Cece, it doesn't matter if we are like them or not." Jess spoke tiredly. Talking about it just made her heart ache more and she didn't know how much more she could take before she would break. "It's over. So would you please just let me watch this? I don't want to talk anymore."

Cece watched her from the side, seeing the stubborn set of her jaw and she knew there was nothing else she could say right now. There were no words left to ease the pain. "Okay."

~N&J~

It had been two weeks since he'd seen Jess the last time. Two weeks since she'd told him that it was over, that they needed to stop whatever was between them. He had the oddest mood swings. One minute he was filled with anger. Anger towards her for pushing him out of her life. And then, only a minute later he thought his heart would stop beating as hurt filled his body. Hurt about her thinking that he could never make it work, that he didn't feel enough for her.

Snorting out a sound of disgust, he shook his head. Not feeling enough? He was definitely feeling too much. He shouldn't have pushed her all those weeks ago on the rooftop. He should have left the roof. If he had they wouldn't be at this point now. Their friendship wouldn't be ruined. Because of course he would be lying if he said that he didn't miss the sex, it had been freaking amazing after all, but what he missed more was his friend.

Crossing the line was never a good idea. He'd just gotten the proof that sleeping with one of your best friend could only end in disaster. But God, he loved her. He was so deeply and madly in love with her that he didn't know how he should live without her. But he was too much of a coward to just tell her. To lay his heart into her hands, hoping for her to not crush it.

Nick was so deep in thoughts that he didn't even hear the door open and he almost jumped up from the couch as something dropped into his lap. As he looked down he saw a DVD box laying in his lap and he looked up confused, discovering that Cece was standing beside the couch.

"What is this?" He asked.

"Your homework."

"My homework?" Nick said, completely stunned now. The two figures on the cover looked familiar and in the same moment he recognized the man and realized what show it was, Cece told him what he already knew.

"Season three of 'Moonlighting'."

"And why exactly do I need to watch it?"

"I would have recommended the whole series but I don't think you have the time to go through all five seasons, so season three it is." Cece replied, not really answering his question.

"You don't make any sense, Cece."

"Jess is currently watching this. Up and down. Not 'Dirty Dancing' but this. Especially episode fourteen where David and Maddie finally sleep together. I'm sure even you have heard of the 'Moonlighting' curse. That's the scene that started it."

"And how should watching this help in any way?" Nick asked, sitting up straighter. Cece had clearly given him this to tell him something. Apparently Jess' best friend was trying to help and the fact that she was standing in front of him had to mean that it might not be over between Jess and him after all.

"I swear if you don't want to see the parallels either or are just denying the parallels I'm gonna slap you with a baseball bat." Cece growled, pointing an accusing finger at him. Nick stared up at her, not able to say anything. He would never admit it out loud but Cece frightened him sometimes and he didn't doubt it for a second that she would make good on her promise. "Just watch it. You might be a man but I'm sure you're gonna realize that there must be a reason why she is watching this instead of 'Dirty Dancing'."

She turned around and stomped towards the door but Nick couldn't help to shout after her. "Is she okay, Cece?"

Cece stopped dead in her tracks and turned around slowly. "No, she is not okay, Nick. She is so not okay." Her features softened a little bit as she saw the seriousness on his face and she added quietly. "So you better fix this, Miller. Before you lose the best thing that ever happened to you."

As the door fell close behind her Nick exhaled a shuddering breath and stared at the DVD box. He had no clue how this should help but he would do anything to get her back. Because he knew that Jess was the best thing that ever happened to him and he would not lose her.

~N&J~

"Where are you going?" Cece asked surprised as she looked up and saw Jess standing in the middle of her living room all dressed up.

"Out."

"What do you mean with out?"

"I'm just taking Nick's advice." Jess said quietly, shrugging one shoulder.

"And that is?" Cece prodded.

"I'm going out on a date with the guy I'm having sex with."

"He actually said _that_ to you?" Cece said, completely baffled. "When?"

"A few months ago."

"So you are already having sex with another man?" Cece asked softly. Apparently she'd tried to intervene too late. Jess apparently wanted to move on. But she could see the sadness, lingering deep in her eyes. Jess didn't want to move on. She only wanted one man and this man was Nick.

"No, but I'm planning on it. You know, get back on the saddle?"

"Jess, shouldn't you wait a little ..." Cece started, trying to make her see how utterly wrong going out on a date with another man than Nick would be but Jess interrupted her.

"For what?" Jess shouted angrily. "Cece, he doesn't love me."

"So you finally admit that you are in love with him?"

"Of course I am. How should I not?" Jess yelled and seeing the sympathetic look on Cece's face she added barely above a whisper. "It's Nick, Cece. Of course I love him."

"Did you tell him?" Cece asked, certain that Jess hadn't told him. After all she'd seen the forlorn expression on Nick's face. She was pretty sure that he loved her too but it was not her place to tell Jess. Nick had to tell her himself.

"And scare the crap out of him?" Jess replied, shaking her head. "No, I didn't tell him. He might jump out of the window. You know he is not good with feelings."

"So you'll want to forget him by jumping into bed with another guy?" Cece said, wanting to throttle her for thinking that going out on a date would help in any way. It never did.

"Yeah, life must go on, right?"

"That's never gonna work, Jess." Cece said urgently. She needed to stop her. Otherwise Jess would regret it for the rest of her life.

"But I have to try."

"You are not gonna fall out of love with him." Cece tried to convince her. "You are only gonna hate yourself afterwards. It's been only four weeks. Give yourself some time, Jess."

"Yeah, it's been _four_ weeks. Time to move on."

"Jess, no. This is a bad idea."

"Don't try to stop me, Cece. I need to forget him and there is no better way to erase the memories than … I need another man, Cece. I can't go on like this. The memories are driving me crazy. I need something … I need it to stop."

"Jess, please."

"Don't wait up for me. I don't know if I'm coming home."

Cece jumped up from the couch, wanting to hold her back but Jess was already out of the door and Cece just stared at the closed door, cursing Nick for being such a coward.

~N&J~

Jess didn't know what had possessed her to drop by the loft before she went out on the date. Maybe she wanted to show Nick that not being with him didn't matter to her at all. She knew that it was wrong. Because after all she had been the one who ended it. It wasn't Nick's fault. Though it was actually partly his fault. After all he didn't love her back.

"Jess?" His voice coming from the direction of his room made her almost jump and her heart was beating painfully against her ribcage as she turned around to face him. Seeing him for the first time after four weeks knocked the breath out of her. She had missed him so much.

"Hey, Nick."

"How are you doing?" Nick said softly.

He had tried to call her several times but never found the courage to press the call button. He'd chickened out, not knowing what he should say to her. He didn't know how he should tell her that he was in love with her, that he really wanted to be with her.

Watching 'Moonlighting' didn't really help, though he'd actually seen the parallels. But he wasn't sure if the fact that Jess had been watching it meant that she had as a hard time to forget what had been between them as he. He just didn't know how he could make her see that they were perfect for each other. Because in his eyes she was perfect. Perfect for him.

"I'm fine." Jess replied, pressing the words past the lump in her throat. She would not start to cry. She would not let him see how much this whole situation was affecting her.

"Are you going out?" Nick asked quietly, pointing towards her attire. "With Cece?"

"No. I'm having a date." Jess told him and wanting to hurt him, she added. "With a man."

"You're having a date?" Nick asked incredulously. The sharp pain in his chest told him that she'd just ripped his heart out. He thought that she was maybe feeling the same way as he, that she might love him too. But apparently Cece had been wrong. Jess didn't want him. She was just fine without him in her life.

"Yes. I'm having a date." Jess repeated, almost choking on the next words. But it just hurt too much to see him standing in front of her, to be so near to him without being able to touch him. She loved him so much but he just didn't love her back and she lashed out, knowing that he didn't deserve her wrath but not caring in the least. "I'm having a date with the man I'm having sex with."

"That didn't take you long, did it?" Nick hissed furiously. He wouldn't have thought that it could hurt so much to see her moving on. He didn't want her to move on. She should be with him. The hurt he felt made him throw words at her he shouldn't say, words he knew would hurt her. But he couldn't help himself. "I hope he can satisfy you. Because I apparently wasn't able to. Maybe his dick is enough for you."

"I'm not some slut." Jess said, stiffening upon hearing his hateful words. The words hurt more than they should. He had apparently no idea that she didn't see any other way to get him out of her head.

"Well, it damn looks that way to me." Nick snapped. "So how many did you already have, Jessica? I'm sure he is not the first one since you threw me out of Cece's apartment."

"You are … you damn ..." Jess clenched her teeth, her hands curling into fists beside her body. Now she knew why Maddie slapped David. She would also like to slap Nick right now. Didn't he know how much she had missed him?

"What? Do you want me to warm you up?" His scorching voice felt like he'd plunged a knife in her heart, twisting it to make it hurt even more. "You know, be your fluffer? And I don't mean your emotional fluffer."

"You are one mean son of a bitch, Nicholas Miller." Jess yelled, her eyes shooting daggers at him. "Just tell me one thing. Can you give me one freaking reason why I shouldn't go out with him?"

"I'll give you one freaking reason." Nick shouted, grabbing her arms and shaking her. He was so mad at her and he'd never loved her more than right in this moment but even he was surprised about the words that came out of his mouth next. "Because I love you. That's why."

They both froze, staring at each other with the same slack-jawed expression on their faces. Nick's hands dropped from her arms and he stepped back, averting his gaze to the ground, afraid to look at her, afraid to see pity in her eyes. He didn't think he would survive it if she would tell him that she didn't love him back.

Jess' heart was beating wildly in her chest, her mind was reeling, replaying his words over and over in her head. Could it be true? Did he really say that he loved her or was she just so desperately in love with him that her mind was playing tricks on her? Letting her hear what she wanted to hear?

"What did you just say?" Jess croaked out, wanting to hear it again, needed to hear it again.

"Nothing!" Nick replied, still refusing to look at her. He'd never felt more vulnerable in his whole life.

"That was definitely not nothing." Jess said quietly and stepping closer she put a tentative hand on his arm. "Did you mean it?"

She could feel him tremble under her fingers and she lifted her hand, cupping his cheek, turning his head towards her. "Nick?"

Nick gulped hard, knowing that he had to face her. It was now or never. For once in his life he needed to stop being a coward and just needed to hope for the best. So he lifted his eyes, meeting hers, whispering hoarsely. "Yes, I meant it. I'm in love with you, Jessica Day. I've been in love with you for a very long time."

"Why didn't you say anything sooner?" Jess said softly, her thumb brushing over his cheek and his hands found their way to her waist and he leaned his forehead against hers, taking in a sharp breath. "What were you afraid of, Nick?"

"That you are not sharing my feelings." Nick stated quietly, closing his eyes as he pulled her into his body. He wanted to feel her against him. It might be the last time he would ever feel her so close to him and he was determined to enjoy every second of it.

"But I do share them." Jess whispered, her breath brushing over his lips and Nick jerked back with surprise, searching her eyes.

"You do?"

"Yes, I do." Jess said, closing the gap to press a soft kiss against his lips. "I love you, Nicholas Miller. I'm in love with you."

"I'm scared, Jess."

"Of what?" Jess asked, wrapping her arms around him and leaning her head against his shoulder.

"Of screwing it up."

"Then we just have to not screw it up."

Nick chuckled and she smiled, leaning back to look up at him. "You think we'll be able to not screw it up? Because you know to whom you are talking, right? I'm Nick Miller. The ultimate screw-up. Why should this be the first thing I don't screw up?"

"Because I love you. We are gonna make this work. I just know it."

"I hope you are right." Nick said, pulling her hard into his body, almost crushing her. "I can't lose you, Jess. I don't know how to live without you."

Her arms tightened around him as she replied. "You don't have to. I'm not gonna leave you. You are stuck with me, Nicholas."

"Don't ever leave me again, Jess. These last four weeks were hell."

"For me, too." Jess bent back, her eyes twinkling up at him as she gave him a brilliant smile. "You know what? I can't live without you either."

"Good." Nick said, capturing her lips in a searing kiss. "Now get your damn phone out and call off your date. You are not having sex with some random guy. You are going to have sex with me."

"So you are the guy I will go out on a date with?" Jess asked, her smile almost splitting up her face. "Because of the whole 'having dates with the guy I'm having sex with' thing."

"Yeah, I'm that guy." Nick smiled back. "But you have to wait a little."

"Wait for what?"

"The date. I'm going to have sex with you right now. I'm not waiting another second."

"You're a sex addict, Nicholas." Jess chuckled, letting out a shriek as he bent down and lifted her up, throwing her over his shoulder.

"As if you are any better." Nick growled, wrapping his arm over her legs so that she wouldn't drop down.

"No, I'm not." Jess replied huskily, anticipation coiling deep in her stomach. "I'm as much of a sex addict as you."

"Good. Then we don't have a problem."

"No, there is no problem at all. Just get me to your room, Nick."

As he stepped into his room he lowered her to the ground carefully, threading his hands through her hair as he tilted her head, lowering his face slowly until his lips brushed over hers. "I missed you so much, Jess."

"I missed you, too." Jess whispered, wrapping her hands around his neck, kissing him hungrily.

They stumbled towards the bed, falling down on it hard, never stopping the kiss, forgetting everything that had happened over the last four weeks. They were just happy that they were finally in each other's arms again. Nothing had ever felt so right. They would make it work. Because neither of them was willing to even consider any other possibility. They loved each other and they would prove that love could sometimes be enough.

* * *

**Okay, guys! This is actually the end. There will be an epilogue because a Valentine's idea hit me but this journey is almost over. I'm already pondering a sequel but I'm not entirely sure about it because I hardly write stories where my couple is in an established relationship and I have no idea if I'm any good at it. So I'm gonna mull over this for a little while. **

**So tell me if you want to see some smut in the epilogue too or if you want it to be solely fluffy. I can include a hot scene but it's not really necessary. It's your decision! :-) **


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